Egypt has discovered Israeli plots to target Hamas leaders in Cairo and has warned Israel that any attack will be responded to with force, senior Egyptian officials told Middle East Eye.
middleeasteye.net
“Intelligence reports suggest that Israel has been plotting to assassinate Hamas leaders in Cairo for some time, as Egypt had already foiled an earlier attempt during ceasefire negotiations in the city over the past two years,” a high-level security source told MEE.
On Tuesday, around 12 air strikes struck residential buildings in the Qatari capital, Doha, about 4pm local time (1pm GMT), targeting Hamas leadership, an attack that has sparked condemnations across the region.
The senior Egyptian officials’ statements to MEE came in response to threats by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would target Hamas in other countries.
“Any attempt on the lives of Hamas leaders on Egyptian soil would be considered by Egypt as a violation of its sovereignty and, accordingly, a declaration of war by Israel, which we would not hesitate to retaliate against,” the security source said.
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Although it has not been officially declared that Hamas' leading figures have lived in Egypt, the security source told MEE, in exclusive statements, that several have resided in the country for years, even before the current Gaza war. Their identities, numbers and exact locations remain undisclosed for security reasons.
According to the source, Egyptian officials have urged their Israeli counterparts to return to negotiations and work towards reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, rather than dragging the region into endless wars and escalating tensions.
“Egyptian–Israeli relations have already been tense in recent months due to the indecisiveness of Tel Aviv towards a possible Gaza truce,” the source noted.
Egyptian officials have been wary of attempts to shift responsibility for Gaza’s future - including potential displacement of Palestinians into North Sinai - onto Cairo.
On 19 August, MEE revealed that Egypt had deployed around 40,000 troops along the Egyptian border with Gaza to hinder the possible passage of Palestinians into Sinai.
MEE also reported that Cairo has been sidelined in the collapsing Gaza ceasefire negotiations, amid fears that a major Israeli assault on the enclave could force Palestinians to breach the Sinai border and trigger chaos.
Correspondence between Egypt and Israel has been completely cut off, with no progress in talks to secure a truce in Gaza, one senior intelligence official said last week, prior to the Doha attack. |
