Hamas is trying to assemble bomb-carrying drones, Al-Aharam reported Saturday. The Egyptian newspaper said that the revelation was made by Egyptian security forces during their interrogation of a Muslim Brotherhood terror cell. The interrogators reportedly discovered that the operatives were working with Hamas on the project. Al-Aharam said the security forces learned that as result of the cooperation between the two terror groups, know-how and equipment were acquired to assemble the unmanned planes and were transferred to the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the report was a "big lie". He told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that such a claim was consistent with the campaign led by Al-Aharam and numerous other newspapers against Hamas and the Palestinian people.
On April 10, An Israeli think tank issued a report issued claiming that since 2005's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, Hamas had forged a formidable military of 20,000 men. Entitled 'Hamas's Military Buildup in the Gaza Strip,' the report said that the breach of Rafah crossing to Sinai in January allowed Hamas to acquire additional weapons.
On April 17, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post that Iran had stepped up its efforts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip by using floatable devices that it drops near the waters off the Gaza coast to be picked up by Palestinian fisherman. According to defense officials, Iran is now sending rockets and other advanced weaponry to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip by sea as well as via tunnels dug under the Philadelphi Corridor and connecting the Sinai Peninsula with Rafah. |
