Hamas Arrests Gaza Jihadists for Attack on Egyptian Army

A Palestinian militant from the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigade, the armed wing of Hamas, poses
MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty

TEL AVIV — Security forces from Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip, arrested four jihadists in recent days suspected of being involved in an attack perpetrated by the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State against the 101st Brigade of the Egyptian army, for which IS’s offshoot in Sinai claimed responsibility.

Two Palestinians who were once operatives of Hamas’ so-called military wing participated in the attack by Wilyat Sinai, IS’s affiliate in Egypt, against an Egyptian army base in the city of Al Arish.

After the attack, Hamas arrested a number of jihadists and several Hamas members accused of helping them, including an imam who agreed to recite the prayer for the dead in memory of one of the two Palestinian jihadists who were involved in the attack.

A senior jihadist source told Breitbart Jerusalem that the wave of arrests against the jihadists has not ended and Hamas arrested four more jihadists on Saturday.

The four were known among jihadists as Muhamad Jamal, Khaled Qudas, Samir Rushdi and Wael Sheiq Eid.

According to Abu Baker al-Maqdesi, a senior jihadist in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has accused the four of having connections to Abdelrahman Banat and Tareq al-Sheiq, the two Palestinians involved in the attack whose photos were released by IS in the terrorist organization’s announcement claiming responsibility for the incident.

According to al-Maqdesi, all four of those arrested did indeed spend time in Sinai before returning to the Gaza Strip a few months ago. Hamas investigators are said to suspect that the four were involved in planning the attack and were familiar with the area around the base.

Two of the four also fired rockets at the base and knew the complex well, including access and exit points.

A Hamas security source confirmed in a conversation with Breitbart Jerusalem that Hamas is coordinating its actions with Egyptian intelligence to find out if the perpetrators of the attack cooperated with others in the Gaza Strip. The source also confirmed that a number of locals had been arrested in Gaza as part of the investigations.

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