Israel Matzav

Hamas refuses to hand attackers to Egypt

Hamas has refused to hand over to Egypt ten Gazan terrorists who - Egypt alleges - participated in a recent attack on an Egyptian police station in El Arish.

Citing a "well-placed Egyptian source," the report said that Egyptian authorities have provided evidence to Hamas implicating the men who Egypt says escaped back into Gaza via tunnels.

With each request, Hamas officials gave different excuses for not handing over the wanted men, al-Masry al-Youm quoted the sources as saying.

On Monday, Egypt presented another official request for Hamas to arrest the Palestinians. Of the 15 terrorists who attacked and attempted to take over the el-Arish police station, 10 were identified by Egyptian authorities as Palestinians, Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported.

...

According to the al-Masry al-Youm report, during a meeting between Hamas officials and Egyptian security authorities to discuss Palestinian reconciliation earlier this year, the Egyptians brought up the issue of dealing with criminals and infiltrators from Gaza making their way into the Sinai.

From Israel's perspective, anything that clouds relations between Hamas and Egypt is good news. If the Egyptians believe that there is a chance that weapons smuggled into Gaza by Hamas will be turned against Egypt, there is a much better chance that Egypt will try to prevent those weapons from being smuggled into Gaza than would be the case without such an Egyptian belief.

So keep fighting boys.

Labels: Egypt, El Arish, Gaza, Hamas, Palestinian terrorists, smuggling tunnels

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:59 PM