Hamas asked IS to open Sinai smuggling route -- IDF source

A senior intelligence officer in the IDF’s Southern Command tells the Ynet news website that the Sinai assault last week by the Islamic State was “aimed at opening a smuggling route to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

According to the officer, Hamas had asked the IS affiliate to open a route in the northern peninsula in an effort to obtain materials to build rockets.

“In exchange, the Islamic State receives various resources from Hamas,” he says.

The IDF has said that Hamas provided the Sinai branch of the Islamic State weaponry and medical help. Last week, the jihadist group launched a massive attack, which included a wave of suicide bombings and assaults on Egyptian security installations by dozens of militants. Egyptian security officials said dozens of troops were killed, along with nearly 100 attackers, though the Egyptian Army officially acknowledges only 12 soldiers killed.