Egyptian sources told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat that Hamas has pledged to track down radicals in Palestinian Rafah who have been launching missiles from Sinai.
Following meetings with senior Egyptian officials in Cairo on Saturday, a Hamas delegation pledged to tighten security measures at the border with Egypt, diplomatic and Muslim Brotherhood sources said.
The measures include clamping down on radicals concentrated in Palestinian Rafah. The sources added that most of them are Palestinians and that it is also believed there are Egyptians and other Arabs among them.
Sixteen Egyptian security guards were killed at the border on 5 August in an attack believed to have been perpetrated by militants based in Sinai and Gaza. Since then, Hamas has intensified communication with Egypt to prevent an Egyptian response that would lead to the closure of the Rafah border crossing.
In a previous interview with Egypt Independent, Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar, who also serves as the foreign minister for the Hamas-led government in Gaza, reiterated that there is no proof yet that Gaza militants were involved in the attacks.
Meanwhile, the group Jamaat Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis accused three Sinai Bedouins of helping Israelis kill one of its members in Sinai. The group added that Sinai suffers a security void due to the small number of Egyptian forces based there since Egypt signed the Camp David Peace Accords with Israel.
The same group had declared responsibility for the repetitive bombing of the natural gas pipelines that export Egyptian gas to Israel following the fall of ex-President Hosni Mubarak.
A local Sinai official, meanwhile, said that accusations made by the group are groundless, adding that investigations are still ongoing. Security sources in Sinai said jihadists in Sinai and Gaza have exploited underground tunnels at the border and lax security in Gaza to launch attacks against Egyptian authorities in Sinai and against Israel from Egypt.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the group said three Egyptians from Sinai colluded with four Mossad officers to kill a man named Ibrahim Oweida Braikat by planting a bomb on the road leading to his home.
Braikat died on Sunday when his motorbike exploded on his way back to his home, located at the Egyptian-Israeli border. Radical groups in Sinai accused Israel of killing Braikat with a missile, while Egyptian authorities said the attack was still being investigated.
A statement issued by Jamaat Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis on Saturday claimed that “three Egyptian spies watched the victim and facilitated the attack for Zionist officers.”
Egyptian security sources said that Operation Eagle has dealt a severe blow to radical groups after a suspected wanted for checkpoint attacks was arrested while hiding in in his home.
The sources added that the arrested man had been sentenced to death last month for killing army and police officers.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
