This open war of words between Egypt and Hamas is a new twist in the game
Egypt MP: Hamas abandoning Gazans
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Stepping up the rhetoric in what has escalated into an all-out verbal war between Hamas and Egypt over the Gaza government's perceived responsibility for the devastating results of Operation Cast Lead, a senior Egyptian parliamentarian on Thursday accused Hamas leaders of abandoning the Palestinians of Gaza to their fate.
"Where are the Hamas leaders now, when the residents of Gaza are getting killed? All of Hamas's leadership is in bunkers," Muhammad Bassiouny, the head of the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, charged in an interview with an Egyptian television channel.
Hamas leaders have largely gone underground since the IAF began its extensive bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and on Wednesday, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin said that many members of the organization's leadership echelon were hiding out in mosques and hospitals, some of them disguised as doctors and male nurses.
In a televised address to the Palestinian public on Wednesday evening - the first such appearance since violence flared six days ago - Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh derived confidence from his conviction that "the Arab people have proven the Palestinian issue is in their hearts."
Bassiouny, a former ambassador to Israel, scoffed at Haniyeh's faith in the Arab world's support, saying, "No one cares if all of the Palestinians are destroyed; what kind of talk is this?"
Bassiouny was also highly critical of Hamas for killing an Egyptian border guard on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported Thursday that Egyptian security forces were in pursuit of a Hamas terror cell that had recently infiltrated Egypt - for fear of a terror attack on Egyptian soil. According to the report, Egyptian authorities were also concerned over the possibility that the cell would try to target security forces along the Gaza border.
The paper reported that Egyptian forces had arrested 59 Palestinians in the city of Al Qantarah El Sharqiyya in the northeast of the country. The fugitives from Gaza were unarmed, the report said, but authorities were nevertheless taking steps to return them to the Strip.
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