US pressured Egypt to keep Islamic Jihad leaders out of Gaza, report says

US officials exerted pressure on Egypt to prevent two senior Islamic Jihad officials from entering the Gaza Strip with Hamas’s political chief Khaled Mashaal, according to a report in the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Saturday.

The paper confirmed reports by Islamic Jihad, which said on Thursday that Israel had warned Egypt it would consider the three-week-old truce since Operation Pillar of Defense over if the terrorist group’s leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah and his deputy, Ziad Nakhaleh, entered the Strip.

Israel also warned Egypt about permitting a third individual, Hamas official Saleh Al-Aruri, from joining Mashaal, who was making his first-ever trip to Gaza.

According to Al-Hayat, US officials made clear to the Egyptian government that it must accede to Israel’s demands and that the matter was not open for discussion.

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad is considered by Israel to be more extremist than Hamas, which controls the Strip.

Both terror groups joined forces during Israel’s 8-day Gaza operation in November, together firing some 1,500 rockets at Israeli cities.