(Times of Israel) Avi Issacharoff - There is a wide gap between what senior Hamas officials are telling the Egyptians and what the heads of its military wing are actually doing on the ground. Despite the promises by Gaza's rulers to stop the smuggling to and from Sinai, Hamas continues to maintain a delicate web of interests and alliances with Islamic State in Sinai. According to sources in Gaza, dozens of Islamic State fighters have received medical treatment in the hospital in Khan Yunis. The Hamas official in charge of arranging medical treatment for Islamic State members is Mohammed Sutari. Likewise, arms smuggling between Gaza and Sinai continues, supervised by Hamas' military wing. Constrained by Egypt's crackdown on border tunnels, some of the smuggling has been done recently by sea. In addition, several former Hamas activists have crossed the border in recent weeks to join the fighting in Sinai against the Egyptian army. Egyptian intelligence heads have realized that Hamas leaders have no intention of ordering a complete halt to cooperation with Islamic State anytime soon.
2016-05-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive