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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 10 al-Qaeda members have entered Gaza |
| 2006-04-05 |
| Around 10 terror operatives affiliated with Al-Qaida and other global jihad factions have infiltrated the Gaza Strip in recent weeks. Palestinian Authority sources said their security agencies suspect that the operatives, who arrived in Gaza from Egypt - some through the Rafah terminal - are staying in the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah and are involved in smuggling materiel on a large scale. According to various reports, some of which could not be fully verified by Israelis, the operatives belong to several factions, mainly radical Islamic movements in Egypt, that are affiliated with Al-Qaida. Beside Palestinians, there are citizens of Egypt, Sudan and Yemen. Citing Jordanian security officials, the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday "a definite presence" of Al-Qaida operatives in Gaza who intend to carry out attacks on "sensitive" targets. The reference apparently was to attacks on crossings into Israel and perhaps also the foreign observers at the Rafah terminal. The observers left the terminal in the past - during the wave of abductions in Gaza on the day the Israel Defense Forces raided the Palestinian jail in Jericho. The PA went to great lengths to mollify them. Through these attempts, it sent several delegations of Gaza children to the terminal to express Palestinian support for the observers. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas confirmed several weeks ago that Al-Qaida operatives had entered Gaza. The IDF admits that Gaza is wide open to weapons smuggling and the entry of terrorists - both through the Rafah terminal and through recently reactivated tunnels beneath the Philadelphi route in Rafah. Among the terrorists who entered were specialists affiliated with Al-Qaida, people who underwent training in sophisticated explosive devices and mass attacks at camps in Lebanon and even in Iran and Afghanistan. A senior source on the IDF General Staff told Haaretz, "The focus of global Islamic terror on our region has already become a distinct phenomenon. We're not talking about gut feelings: The Katyushas fired on Shlomi and before that the Katyusha fire from Aqaba that hit the airport in Eilat were carried out by organizations affiliated with Al-Qaida and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's people in Iraq. The operational direction of these organizations is clear. They will try in the future to hit more Israeli targets." MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chair of the outgoing Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Tuesday that terror organizations in Gaza now have unfettered access to expert assistance and materiel through the Egyptian border. "More sophisticated materiel is getting into Gaza, as are global jihad operatives who didn't used to get there. A weapons industry is developing there; it's still in an initial phase, but it is worrisome," Steinitz warned. He claimed that Egypt is not living up to the agreement it reached with Israel before the disengagement, in which it pledged to combat these phenomena. General Staff sources disagreed with Steinitz, saying there has actually been improvement in Egypt's activity to counter smuggling. With the entry of terror operatives and weapons smugglers from Sinai to the southern Negev, changes were made in the military deployment along the Egyptian border. There are now more than double the number of troops along the border than before the disengagement. In addition, cooperation among Israeli intelligence agencies has been increased to foil potential air and sea attacks by global jihadists. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Egypt is not living up to the agreement it reached with Israel before the disengagement, in which it pledged to combat these phenomena. Surprise meter. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-04-05 11:37 |