BICOM

According to a report by the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, Egypt’s military has drawn up precautionary plans for action in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip should violence increase against Egyptian forces in the adjacent Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian forces recently launched a major military offensive in Sinai, which borders both Israel and the Gaza Strip, as the area has become a significant base for Islamist groups to attack the Egyptian army in the wake of Mohammed Morsi’s ouster in July. Egypt’s military rulers suspect Hamas, a long-time ally of the Muslim Brotherhood of providing significant material support to Sinai Islamists. The Sinai violence has also posed a threat to Israel’s southern border, with the resort city of Eilat the target of rocket fire on several recent occasions.

Ma’an says that initial plans are in place for an Egyptian operation in the Gaza Strip itself should the Sinai violence intensify and that Egyptian reconnaissance planes have entered Gaza airspace to examine potential targets in Rafah and Khan Younis. An unnamed Egyptian official is quoted saying “The Egyptian army does not believe the population of Gaza is involved in the violence in Sinai, but certain factions strongly support Sinai groups.” More specifically, the official commented “Hamas… is responsible for maintaining control of the smuggling tunnels as well as the factions operating in the coastal enclave.” Egyptian forces have already destroyed a large number of the tunnels beneath the Egypt-Gaza border, which Egyptian authorities believe have been a major conduit for Hamas to aid the supply of weapons and fighters to Islamist groups.

Ihab Al-Ghosein, a spokesman for Hamas, which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, reacted angrily to “the immoral statements” made by Egyptian officials in Ma’an’s report and demanded “an official position from the Egyptian government regarding these statements, which threaten the national security and stability of the Palestinian people.”