'Hamas planning to

Hamas is planning to blow up the border with Egypt in Rafah for the second time, the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported Monday. The paper quoted "reliable Palestinian sources" as saying that Hamas activists were planning to fire mortar shells at Egyptian forces during the first stage of the operation. After that they intend to fire directly at the Egyptian troops, and ultimately destroy Egyptian battlements with explosives, some of them planted in tunnels beneath the guard posts. Meanwhile, the Hamas intends to breach the border with Egypt and allow the general populace to flood into the Sinai. The sources also told the paper that the organization had planted explosives along four kilometers of the border. According to the plan, the operation would be assisted by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the sources said. The killing of Egyptian soldiers with live ammunition has been sanctioned by Muslim clerics in a special fatwa issued by Hamas on Friday, the report said.