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Israel predicts Egypt will assist to topple Hamas rule

February 11, 2014 at 2:03 pm

A prominent Israeli commentator has predicted that the Egyptian army will work in coordination with the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority to topple the rule of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip.


A report published by an online Israeli outlet “The Post” on Sunday cites Yossi Melman, a prominent Israeli intelligence affairs commentator as saying; “Despite the fact that this scenario seems now unrealistic, it is likely that the tension between the Egyptian army and Hamas will escalate to the point where the Egyptian army launches a major military campaign in the Gaza Strip to overthrow the movement’s rule”.

Melman described the Egyptian army’s operations in northern Sinai as “unprecedented” in terms of their determination to resist “terrorists”; killing hundreds with aircrafts and commandos troops. Melman pointed out that the Egyptian army was systematically eliminating those wanted rather than arresting them. Melman predicted that the Egyptian army will justify any military action against Hamas by “claiming that it had received evidence which proves Hamas’ cooperation with Al Qaeda affiliated Islamic groups in Sinai and that Hamas provides these groups with weapons”.

According to Melman, “The Egyptian army receives intelligence from Israel which links Hamas to the Islamic groups in Sinai”. He added that the Egyptian army had intensified its operations to destroy the tunnels which link Egypt to the Gaza Strip.

On another level, Melman said the US military currently trains and oversees the Egyptian army during their operations to demolish the tunnels. The Obama administration recently awarded an American company $10 million to develop equipment capable of detecting tunnels on the border with Gaza. Since 2009, Washington has spent $30 million on operations to detect tunnels in the area.

According to Melman, “The Egyptian army coordinates its operations in the northern Sinai with Tel Aviv and receives approval before it carries out any operation”.

Meanwhile, in a report published by Maariv, Aryeh Kahane, a political analyst, said “the security cooperation between Israel and the Egyptian army has never been so deep. Israel and the Egyptian army leadership are trying to avoid media attention of the existing security cooperation.”