TEL AVIV – Gaza radicals have continued to join jihadi movements in Sinai despite Hamas’s efforts to seal the border, a source in the movement told Breitbart Jerusalem.
Recently, Hamas reportedly pledged to the Egyptian government that it would do its utmost to stop cross-border cooperation between Sinai jihadists and their counterparts in Gaza. Egypt also demanded that Hamas turn in Gaza militants suspected of carrying out terror attacks on Egyptian soil and training Egyptian terrorists.
Hamas’s efforts have recently concentrated on trying to uncover the ring of cross-border smugglers who have allowed this cooperation to continue in a bid to save face, the source also said.
Breitbart Jerusalem previously reported that Hamas had scaled back its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, its founding movement and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Sisi’s sworn enemy. Hamas leaders have ordered the removal of banners and slogans highlighting their link to the Egyptian movement.
Hamas is continuing to step up measures against jihadists at home, even when they have ties to Hamas itself. The source said Hamas leaders were surprised to discover during a raid over the weekend that four members of its military wing were planning to cross into Sinai to join a jihadi militia.
They were to be assisted by a high-profile jihadi militant who was arrested in a mosque last week during Friday prayers.