Hamas steps up Ismail Haniyeh's security detail - Tzvi Lev

by Tzvi Lev

Terror group fears assassination attempt by both Israel and ISIS affiliates in the Gaza Strip.

Ismail Haniyeh

Reuters

The Hamas terror organization has stepped up the security detail of leader Ismail Haniyeh after receiving intelligence of an assassination attempt against him.

According to the London-based Al Sharq Al Awsat, Hamas fears that both Israel and ISIS affiliates within the Gaza Strip will make an attempt against Haniyeh. According to the report, Hamas also fears that assailants will target Haniyeh as revenge for the attempted assassination of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in March

Haniyeh has served as Hamas' Prime Minister since 2016 as is expected to succeed Khaled Meshal as Hamas leader within the coming year.

Hamdallah had been unhurt by the roadside blast that struck his convoy as he visited Hamas-run Gaza back in March.

The assassination attempt on Hamdallah deepened the ongoing rift between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah movement. PA

chairman Mahmoud Abbas directly blamed Hamas for the bomb attack, saying that if the attack had succeeded it would have "opened the way for a bloody civil war.

The two groups have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza in a bloody coup.

The sides signed a reconciliation agreement in October, as part of which Hamas was to transfer power in Gaza by December 1. That deadline was initially put back by 10 days and then appeared to have been cancelled altogether after it reportedly hit “obstacles”.

Hamas recently denounced the Hamdallah cabinet over its policy of "deceiving, creating tension and deliberately neglecting the needs of the residents of the Gaza Strip."


Tzvi Lev

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/245479

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