Palestinian security forces under the command of President
Mahmoud Abbas, known as the presidential guards, working in the Gaza Strip
received 2000 machineguns, twenty thousand gun chargers and one million
rounds, late Wednesday night.
Israeli media sources said that these weapons came from Egypt under the supervision of the Israeli army, through the Karem Shalom border crossing north of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian officers who received the four shipments told the Israeli online daily Haartz that "for a long time Hamas forces have exceeded ours." Though Palestinian sources denied that the Presidental Guard forces received the weapons, Egyptian governmental officials conferment the deal.
Nabel Abu Erdinah, spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency, stated that no deal was made and that the presidential guard forces did not receive any kind of weapons from any destination.
According to Haartz the reason behind delivering those guns to the presidential guards after detaining them for more than 6 months was due to the recent infighting between Hamas and Fatah. The deal was approved during the meeting between Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert last Saturday, after Abbas promised to deploy his forces on the borders between Israel and Gaza, and Gaza and Egypt, in order to stop illegal weapon smuggling into the Gaza strip.
