A spokesman for the Palestinian Hamas movement on Tuesday denied Israeli reports of Egyptian restrictions on Hamas officials who travel through Egypt, calling them “Israeli maneuvers to poison the Egyptian-Palestinian ties”.A spokesman for the Palestinian Hamas movement on Tuesday denied Israeli reports of Egyptian restrictions on Hamas officials who travel through Egypt, calling them “Israeli maneuvers to poison the Egyptian-Palestinian ties”.
The Palestine Information Centre quoted Salah Al-Bardaweel, Hamas Parliamentary bloc spokesperson as saying, ‘Last week we were in Egypt, met with a number of officials in very good atmosphere and we agreed on more coordination to ease the movement of our officials.’
‘The Israeli media tried to poison the ties between Egypt and the Palestinians,’ al-Bardaweel added.
Bardaweel’s comments come in response to Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper report earlier on Tuesday which claimed that there is an Egyptian ‘crackdown on Hamas’ as part of efforts to stop arms smuggling from Sinai to Gaza.
The Jerusalem Post was referring Mohammed Awad, secretary-general of the Palestinian cabinet, who was delayed on the border while passing through Rafah crossing on Gaza-Egypt border, which is the only way for Gaza residents to travel outside the Palestinian territories.
