Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, on Thursday vehemently denied involvement in
a terrorist attack that killed 16 Egyptian border guards in Sinai last
August.
The denial came in response to a report in the Egyptian newspaper
Al-Ahram which named three Hamas members as having participated in the killing
of the soldiers.
The three men, all senior figures in Izzadin Kassam,
were identified as Ayman Nofal, Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Shamalah and Read
al-Attar.
According to the report, Attar was one of those who planned and
executed the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006.
The paper
said that Hamas decided to carry out the attack on the Egyptian military outpost
in retaliation against the Egyptian army’s destruction of a large number of
smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and
Egypt.
Al-Ahram editor Ashraf Bader said Egyptian intelligence and
security officers confirmed to him the involvement of the Hamas men in the
killings.
Abu Obaida, spokesman for Izzadin Kassam, accused the Egyptian
media of lying and attempting to involve Hamas in Egypt’s internal
affairs.
He said that the report in Al-Ahram was nothing but “illusions
and lies nesting in the head of its editor.” The Hamas spokesman said that his
movement would sue the Egyptian newspaper for engaging in lies and
fraud.
The latest report follows a series of allegations in the Egyptian
media about Hamas’s alleged attempts to undermine Egyptian security and
stability.
Earlier this year, an Egyptian TV station quoted security
officials in Cairo as saying that Hamas has sent thousands of its men to the
Egyptian capital to protect President Mohamed Morsi against his political
opponents. This report was also denied by Hamas.
Some Hamas officials
believe that Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank are behind
the Egyptian accusations.
The officials said that the PA security forces
were trying to drive a wedge between Hamas and the Egyptians “with the help of
former aides to ousted president Hosni Mubarak.”