NOVANEWS
Hamas security forces arrest high-ranking Egyptian officer
By HISHAM ABU TAHA | ARAB NEWS
May 25, 2010 02:08
GAZA CITY: Hamas security forces detained and interrogated a high-ranking Egyptian officer who entered the Gaza Strip, the interior minister said on Monday.
May 25, 2010 02:08
GAZA CITY: Hamas security forces detained and interrogated a high-ranking Egyptian officer who entered the Gaza Strip, the interior minister said on Monday.
Fathi Hammad told the Hamas-affiliated Felesteen newspaper that the Egyptian officer was returned to Egypt. ”
“The security services arrested a high-ranking Egyptian officer who had sneaked into the Gaza Strip in secret to gather information on the Palestinian people, government and other things,” Hammad told the newspaper.
Hammad called on the Egyptian authorities to form a joint security committee to coordinate with the Gaza government instead of sending officers to secretly violate Palestinian security.
Hamas’ relations with Egypt, its main intermediary with the outside world, have worsened in recent months as Egypt is constructing an underground metal wall along its border with Gaza.
Earlier this month, Hamas accused Egypt of torturing Palestinian prisoners, including a brother of one of the group’s main spokesman who Hamas said was tortured to death in an Egyptian prison in October.
“Egypt is better off investigating how Israeli agents infiltrated Palestinian and Egyptian territories rather than sending officers in secret to collect information on the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, and torturing Palestinian (detainees in Egypt) into giving up information,” he added.
The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since Hamas came into power in June 2007.
Last Monday, Hamas denied reports that Egypt has frozen all contact with the group. Sami Abu Zohri told reporters that the issue was “mere media speculation,” but added that relation between Gaza and Egypt are tense following an escalation in security measures by Egyptian security forces along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
“The security services arrested a high-ranking Egyptian officer who had sneaked into the Gaza Strip in secret to gather information on the Palestinian people, government and other things,” Hammad told the newspaper.
Hammad called on the Egyptian authorities to form a joint security committee to coordinate with the Gaza government instead of sending officers to secretly violate Palestinian security.
Hamas’ relations with Egypt, its main intermediary with the outside world, have worsened in recent months as Egypt is constructing an underground metal wall along its border with Gaza.
Earlier this month, Hamas accused Egypt of torturing Palestinian prisoners, including a brother of one of the group’s main spokesman who Hamas said was tortured to death in an Egyptian prison in October.
“Egypt is better off investigating how Israeli agents infiltrated Palestinian and Egyptian territories rather than sending officers in secret to collect information on the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, and torturing Palestinian (detainees in Egypt) into giving up information,” he added.
The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since Hamas came into power in June 2007.
Last Monday, Hamas denied reports that Egypt has frozen all contact with the group. Sami Abu Zohri told reporters that the issue was “mere media speculation,” but added that relation between Gaza and Egypt are tense following an escalation in security measures by Egyptian security forces along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
