Suspected militants attacked two police minibuses with rocket-propelled grenades, killing 24 officers, Egyptian officials say.
The ambush took place as the two vehicles were driving through a village near the border town of Rafah in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.
Two officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said that three officers had also been injured in the attack.
Sinai has been witnessing near daily attacks by suspected militants since the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3.
The latest attack follows the brutal suppression of Mr Morsi's supporters in Cairo in scenes of bloodshed over the last five days, which have left at least 750 people dead.
The military, which assumed control of the country from Mr Morsi, has been rounding up the former president's Muslim Brotherhood supporters and there have been more than 1,000 arrests.
The Brotherhood has vowed to continue its demonstrations in the wake of the violence.
Monday's Sinai attack comes as European Union ambassadors are to meet today to discuss the crisis in Egypt amid international alarm at the growing death toll from unrest across the country.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy have issued a rare joint statement warning that the EU would "urgently" review its relations with Egypt over the coming days.
Prime Minister David Cameron and French president Francois Hollande have called for today's meeting of ambassadors in Brussels to be followed by an emergency session of EU foreign ministers.
Britain has condemned the "disproportionate use of force" by the Egyptian authorities and called on all sides to end the violence and to enter dialogue.
In their statement, Mr Barroso and Mr Van Rompuy said all political forces in Egypt must recommit to the country's democratic future and called on the army to support a move towards early elections and the establishment of a civilian government.
"We regret deeply that international efforts and proposals for building bridges and establishing an inclusive political process, to which the EU contributed actively, were set aside and a course of confrontation was instead pursued," they said.
"This path will not succeed. It is crucial that violence ends immediately.
"The calls for democracy and fundamental freedoms from the Egyptian population cannot be disregarded, much less washed away in blood."
The family of four Irish siblings caught up in Egypt's violence have said their relatives are being held by Egyptian authorities.
Omaima Halawa, 20, her two sisters Fatima, 22, Somaia, 27, and their younger brother Ibrihim, 17, were among hundreds of people cleared out of the al Fath mosque when security forces stormed the building on Saturday.
They were forced to seek sanctuary in the mosque on Friday after violent clashes between supporters of Mr Morsi and the security forces killed more than 80 people.
Hundreds of Morsi supporters also fled to the building in the Ramses area of Cairo, shoving furniture against the doors to stop police from breaking their way in.
Speaking from the family home in Firhouse, south Dublin, another sister Nasaybi Halawa said her four siblings were being held at one of Cairo's jails.
She spoke out as it emerged that dozens Muslim Brotherhood supporters had been killed in an incident at an Egyptian prison.
The interior ministry said 36 detainees died after suffocating on tear gas during an attempted prison break.
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