by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Hamas began deploying additional security forces along border with Egypt in mid-April to ease Cairo's concerns that it is aiding the Islamic State group • "Hamas will not allow Gaza to be a threat to Egypt's security," says Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.
The Hamas terrorist group has beefed up its
security presence along the Egypt-Gaza Strip border to counter Cairo's
concerns that it is aiding the Islamic State group in Egypt's volatile
Sinai Peninsula.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, began
deploying additional security forces along the border with Egypt in
mid-April in an effort to ease Cairo's security concerns, which have
increased since the overthrow of former Islamist Egyptian President
Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
Hamas security forces have set up dozens of
new military bases and watch towers in border areas, allowing hundreds
of security personnel to take up positions along the 13-kilometer
(8-mile) border while soldiers in pickup trucks patrol back and forth.
The deployment followed a meeting between a
senior Hamas delegation and Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo in
March. The two sides reached an agreement that sees Hamas halt tunnel
construction in return for the opening of the Rafah Border Crossing,
Gaza's main gateway to the outside world.
Egypt has accused Hamas of backing an
insurgency of Islamist terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula. Hamas has
denied the allegations.
Following the visit, Hamas vowed to take
concrete steps to prevent arms smuggling and the infiltration of
extremist elements across the border into Sinai.
"Hamas has boosted its security presence along
the Palestinian-Egyptian border in order to maintain firm control of
the border areas after an agreement between Hamas and Egyptian
officials," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman. "Hamas' position is
clear: Hamas will not allow Gaza to be a threat to Egypt's security. The
reports which spoke about the infiltration of extremist elements from
the Gaza Strip into the Sinai Peninsula are merely Israeli allegations
that aim to harm the relations between the Hamas movement and Cairo."
Hamas, currently facing its worst financial
crisis since it violently seized control of Gaza in 2007, hopes the new
security arrangements will ensure a permanent opening of the Rafah
Border Crossing and lay a platform for new relations with Egypt. The
movement's financial situation worsened after Egyptian forces damaged
and used seawater to flood the smuggling tunnels that served as a
lifeline for Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas security forces have launched a harsh
arrest campaign against radical Salafi groups, which support the global
holy war launched by IS and al-Qaida, following a string of bombings
that have targeted many of the group's security headquarters and
vehicles in the heart of Gaza over recent years.
"Actually, Hamas has been cracking down on extremist
Salafists since 2009," said Mukheimar Abu Saada, a political analyst.
"Hamas security forces clashed with a group of Salafists and killed many
of them in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip many years ago. And since
then, Hamas security forces have been launching arrest campaigns against
extremist Salafists, mainly because their presence threatens security
and stability in the Gaza Strip."
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=33561
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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