Hamas denies Israeli claims of Daesh presence in Gaza

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Saturday denied recent claims by an Israeli army official that members of the Daesh terrorist group had recently entered the Hamas-run Gaza Strip from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“These allegations are promoted by the Israeli occupation; they are mere fabrications that have no basis in fact,” leading Hamas member Ismail Radwan told Anadolu Agency.

The claims, he added, “seek to justify Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip”.

On Friday, Israeli army Major-General Yoav Mordechai alleged that Daesh members had entered the Hamas-run coastal enclave to undergo military training via cross-border tunnels from Egypt’s Sinai.

In April, Hamas announced that it was stepping up security along the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt.

The announcement came after a Hamas delegation visited Cairo in March to meet with Egyptian officials.

The visit was the first of its kind since Hamas-Egypt relations nosedived in the wake of a 2013 military coup that ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader.