Egypt promised to pressure Israel to increase the number of cargo trucks allowed to the Gaza Strip through the Karam Abu Salem crossing, in accordance with the truce signed by the resistance factions and Israel after the last war, Hamas Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ghazi Hamad said.
Hamad added at a news conference Sunday that Hamas is discussing with Egyptian security officials the destruction of the border tunnels, which he said Gaza residents had to dig to overcome the Israeli siege.
“There were 253 workers killed in the tunnels,” he said.
According to Palestinian statistics, there are 1,200 tunnels for smuggling commodities between Egypt and Gaza.
“Israel often closes the crossing, which hinders the flow of commodities,” he said. “But we monitor the tunnels so as not to allow infiltrators to harm Egypt or Gaza in any way.”
“The security of Egypt is the security of Palestine,” he said, stressing that his government is ready to close these tunnels if there were other alternatives, and calling on Arab countries to exert pressure on the international community to lift the blockade on Gaza and open the crossings for commerce. “There is no justification for the blockage.”
He said Hamas and the Palestinian people respect Egypt’s sovereignty, denying the entry of members of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, or them breaking into prisons during the revolution.
“There is no evidence for that, and no Palestinian was arrested in Egypt for such issues,” he said.
He added that relations with Egypt now are much better than before, and that Hamas’ image as a terrorist organization has changed in some European countries.
“Many leaders we met believe the siege of the Gaza Strip is not right,” he said.
“We suffered a lot from being classified as a terrorist organization,” he said. “We will hold a conference to drop Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations.”
Edited translation from MENA
