Hamas Angry Over Defective Goods Imported from Egypt

TEL AVIV — Hamas is furious over the poor quality of goods entering the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, a source in the terrorist organization told Breitbart Jerusalem.

According to the source, a large part of the goods are defective and the expiration dates on a high percentage of the products are expired.

The source noted that many of the goods are unusable.

A Hamas government committee made up of those responsible for the health and economy of the Gaza Strip has been established, according to the source, to warn against purchasing the products and removing them from the market.

The source said that initial estimates from the committee indicate that for some kinds of goods as much as 60% is unusable. For example, much of the cement imported to Gaza from Egypt in recent weeks was said to have been unfit for use in construction.

Hamas is discussing whether or not to file an official complaint with the Egyptian government, said the source, despite concern that Egypt would see such a complaint as harmful to its reputation. This concern is heightened in light of recently improved relations between Hamas and Egypt.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian security delegation in Gaza is continuing its meetings with representatives of major Palestinian factions in an attempt to make progress toward a final reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah.

As part of these attempts, the Egyptian delegation has met with Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh. The meeting addressed the remaining difficulties in implementing the reconciliation deal, especially ways to hand over full authority in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

The meeting with Haniyeh was just one of a series of meetings with representatives of all the factions and the various institutions active in the Strip as well as representatives of the PA government in Gaza who are waiting to receive full authority over their government ministries with the involvement of Hamas personnel who have stayed in their positions at the ministries there.