Hamas says Egypt no longer a viable mediator with Israel

Source close to group repudiates Cairo after court deems armed wing terrorists; Sissi: Fight against terror will be long and hard

In this photo provided by Egypt's state news agency MENA, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaks in front of the state-run TV ahead of a military funeral for troops killed in an assault in the Sinai Peninsula, as he stands with army commanders in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014  (photo credit: AP Photo/MENA, Mohammed Samaha)
In this photo provided by Egypt's state news agency MENA, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaks in front of the state-run TV ahead of a military funeral for troops killed in an assault in the Sinai Peninsula, as he stands with army commanders in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 (photo credit: AP Photo/MENA, Mohammed Samaha)

A source close to Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said Saturday the group no longer recognizes Egypt as a broker with Israel, following an Egyptian court’s decision to label the group a terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, Egypt announced plans for a unified task force to combat militants in the Sinai peninsula as its president vowed a long and difficult battle against terrorism.

“After the court’s decision Egypt is no longer a mediator in Palestinian-Israeli matters,” a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday, hours after the court’s ruling. Cairo has long been a go-between for both parties and has played a pivotal role in brokering a number of ceasefires in Gaza, including at the end of last summer’s war.

Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s former prime minister in the Gaza Strip, lambasted Cairo over the announcement, saying “you [Egyptians] have lost your sense of justice.”

“The Brigades are a source of pride, respect and bravery,” he said, according to Ynet.

Members of the Izz Al-Din Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, attend a demonstration at Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip against resuming peace talks with Israel, January 24, 2014. (photo credit: AP/Hatem Moussa)
Members of the Izz Al-Din Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, attend a demonstration at Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip against resuming peace talks with Israel, January 24, 2014. (photo credit: AP/Hatem Moussa)

Since the Egyptian military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013, the authorities have accused the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip of aiding jihadists, who have increased their attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

The choice to label the armed-wing a terrorist group was made two days after a host of coordinated attacks by jihadists on government forces in the Sinai Peninsula killed 31 people.

Family members of security forces killed in Sinai on Thursday cry after they received the bodies of their relatives, outside Almaza military airport in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. (Photo credit: AP/Hassan Ammar)
Family members of security forces killed in Sinai on Thursday cry after they received the bodies of their relatives, outside Almaza military airport in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. (Photo credit: AP/Hassan Ammar)

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi condemned the attacks, vowing a long, aggressive campaign against extremist groups operating in the restive region.

“This battle will be difficult…and will take a long time,” he said in a televised statement on Saturday.

“We will not leave Sinai for the terrorists,” he vowed. The Egyptian leader made his address as military commanders announced plans to forge a unified command for all armed forces in Sinai.

An Islamic State-linked group in Egypt, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks. Sissi laid the blame on the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic movement ousted from power in 2013, and its offshoot, Hamas.

“From the very first moment, it was clear that Hamas had a hand in this [attack],” said Ahmed Mousi, a TV presenter on a network close to the Egyptian president, according to Channel 2.

Thursday’s attack was the second major operation against Egyptian security forces in Sinai in the last 6 months; 31 soldiers were killed in another operation in October 2014. The continued success of the Sinai-based Islamic militants, despite more than a year of being targeted by massive military operations, highlights the resilience of the militants and represents an embarrassing security failure for Sissi and his administration’s high-profile war on terror.

Following the July 2013 coup that toppled Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power, the Egyptian president began cracking down on Hamas, destroying hundreds of tunnels into an out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and keeping the Rafah border crossing tightly monitored and often closed. Egypt was also building a buffer zone with the Palestinian enclave.

Egyptian Army personnel supervise the destruction of tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the border, near the town of Rafah, northern Sinai, Egypt, September 2013. (photo credit: AP/AP Television)
Egyptian Army personnel supervise the destruction of tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the border, near the town of Rafah, northern Sinai, Egypt, September 2013. (photo credit: AP/AP Television)

Egypt‘s army and jihadists clashed in Sinai Friday after the attack, leaving two children dead. Health officials said a six-month-old baby was shot in the head by a bullet during the clashes and a six-year-old was killed in a rocket blast in the Sinai Peninsula. Two more people including a 12-year-old were badly wounded.

Sissi, who was at an African Union summit in Ethiopia during the violence, pulled out of the meeting and flew home “to monitor the situation,” according to his office. “The army and police will intensify their raids against terrorist and extremist elements in Sinai and across the country,” a military statement read.

Militant ‘retaliation’

The militants said the Thursday attacks were in retaliation for a government crackdown on Morsi supporters in which hundreds have been killed, thousands jailed and dozens sentenced to death.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned Thursday’s attacks and said Washington “remains steadfast in its support of the Egyptian government’s efforts to combat the threat of terrorism.”

Late last year, Washington delivered 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt, which has poured troops and armor into the peninsula, for joint counter-terrorism operations in the Sinai.

On Friday, Iran stressed the need for regional cooperation “to combat the terrorist menace in Egypt”.

Egyptian members of the armed forces patrol outside al-Maza military airport where the bodies of the members of security forces, who were killed in North Sinai province during an attack the day before, had been flown on January 30, 2015 in the capital Cairo. (Photo credit: AFP/ MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)
Egyptian members of the armed forces patrol outside al-Maza military airport where the bodies of the members of security forces, who were killed in North Sinai province during an attack the day before, had been flown on January 30, 2015 in the capital Cairo. (Photo credit: AFP/ MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)

The main focus of Thursday’s attacks was el-Arish, the provincial capital, where militants fired rockets at a police headquarters, a military base and a residential complex for security forces, officials said.

This was followed by a suicide car bombing and an attack on a military checkpoint south of el-Arish.

Separately an army officer was killed when a rocket struck a checkpoint in Rafah, on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Officials said at least 62 people were wounded in the attacks.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said on Twitter it had “executed extensive, simultaneous attacks in the cities of el-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah.”

The organization in November pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which has captured large chunks of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Security measures

The October attack, also near el-Arish, prompted the authorities to build a buffer zone along the Gaza border to prevent militants infiltrating from the Palestinian enclave.

They have also imposed a state of emergency and night-time curfew in parts of northern Sinai.

“These measures are just random retaliation that creates more terrorism, and what is worse is that it could make residents sympathize” with the extremists, said Ahmed Abdel Rabo, political science professor at Cairo University.

The military said Thursday’s attack was the result of “the failure of Muslim Brotherhood… in spreading chaos on the fourth anniversary of the January 25 revolution.”

On January 25, 2011, millions of Egyptians protested against president Hosni Mubarak, eventually forcing him to step down.

As Egypt marked the anniversary Sunday, clashes between protesters and police left 20 people dead, mostly in Cairo.

Since Mubarak’s ouster Egypt has been rocked by political and economic turmoil.

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