In all likelihood, it was Egyptian authorities who intercepted the Hamas members, who were purportedly on their way to receive military training in Iran.
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Hamas’ interior ministry confirmed that four Palestinians were kidnapped on their way to Cairo. The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) objection to the truce, characterizing it as a kiss of death to the two-state solution, is completely misplaced.
A Hamas source’s claims were publicised by Israel’s Army Radio which made clear that while Israel has a fleet of Dolphin class submarines, Hamas was specifically referring to capturing the mammal.
Sinai is the focal point of an Islamist insurgency that aims to overthrow the government, and the most active militant group in the area is the Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State, Sinai Province.
It shows the extent of Israel’s “anger” and “indignation” at the formation of Hamas’s naval combat unit, the paper reports.
Egypt has responded to the nefarious activities of Hamas by closing its Rafah border, Al-Ahram Arabic reported Friday.
To enhance its survivability, once the truce is established, the US and the EU should remove Hamas from their terrorist lists and allow it to have greater freedom of movement, as long as it fully adheres to the terms of the truce.
Now, Fatah says that by agreeing that its channel to the outside world will be via the Mediterranean rather than through a connection with the West Bank, Hamas is deepening that separation.
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Hamas “demands the immediate return of the abductees and to arrest the perpetrators so as not to affect Palestinian-Egyptian relations at a time when all parties are seeking to consolidate this relationship”, the statement added.
