CAIRO, Egypt: A trip to Egypt by an Israeli Cabinet member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has been delayed amid media reports his army unit had killed 250 Egyptian POWs during the 1967 Middle East war. He had been due in Cairo this week.

Eliezer denied the allegations, saying the dead were Palestinian fighters killed in combat.

AFP quoted anonymously a senior Israeli official saying the affair was becoming a major diplomatic incident.

According to Israel Radio report Egypt's intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman told Ben-Eliezer not to come because he could be arrested.

The claims were aired last week in an Israeli documentary, described by its director as a "self-examination" of Israel's use of force during the war.

"In Egypt, the opposition is taking the story and distorting it into an issue to disrupt the peace," film-maker Ron Edelist said on Israel Army Radio.

The Egyptian media reports said the documentary showed that Ben-Eliezer's unit killed 250 Egyptian prisoners of war in the Sinai Peninsula rather than taking them to POW camps.

The affair has dominated Egyptian headlines for two days and it sparked an angry debate in parliament.

Egyptian foreign ministry officials have requested a copy of the film from the Israeli government and summon its ambassador in Cairo to explain Israel's position.

Israel captured the arid Sinai Peninsula from Egypt in the Six Day war of 1967. The two sides signed a peace treaty in 1979 which saw the territory returned.