Director of The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), Yuval Diskin, claimed on Monday that Hamas has sent dozens of fighters to Iran for combat training.!– @page { size: 21.59cm 27.94cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } –>The remarks of Diskin came during a meeting with a group of foreign correspondents, his remarks were published in the New York Times,an Israeli online daily reported.
The New York Times quoted Diskin stating that Hamas has actually started sending fighters to train in Iran, and that the movement plans to send hundreds for that training.
He stated that this is “a strategic danger” which is even more dangerous than the weapons smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
The Shin Bet director added that the training could last for several months or even years.
Also, Diskin stated that the Islamic Jihad movement is sending dozens of gunmen to Lebanon and Iran for training, and that the movement continued to manufacture anti-tank shells.
The New York Times also quoted Diskin that Israel will have to do something about these issues if they continue.
Since its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel said that Palestinian resistance groups have smuggled weapons and ammunition from Egypt through a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt borer.
Diskin stated that the international embargo against the Palestinian government since Hamas took office after last year's elections drove the movement closer to Iran, but added that it continues to defy the international legitimacy and rejects to recognize Israel before the independent Palestinian State is established.
Commenting on the upcoming Palestinian unity government, Diskin stated that the unity deal struck between Hamas and Fateh would not last and described Hamas as “a ticking bomb inside the unity government”,.
