Al-Bardaweel: Hamas Not Participates in Egypt’s Turmoil

Islamic Hamas movement on Monday denied reports saying that it sent militants from Gaza to free its jailed members in Egypt during the country’s turmoil last year.

Salah Al-Bardaweel, a Hamas spokesman, said that Hamas does not intervene in the internal affairs of other countries. “Our battle is only with Israel and it is inside the Palestinian territories,” he said.

The denial came after Egyptian media published the testimony of Omar Suliman, who was then the deputy of toppled President Hosni Mubarak. His testimony was presented during Mubarak’s trial.

Suliman claimed that Hamas sent arms to Sinai Bedouins through the underground tunnels beneath Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, and that militants crossed through the tunnels and attacked Egyptian prisons in cooperation with the Bedouins. Dozens of Palestinians fled the Egyptian prisons where they had been held in January 2011, according to Xinhua.

Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 after routing forces loyal to the Palestinian National Authority, whose rule is now confined to the West Bank.