News
Hamas’s Haniyeh visits Egypt for first time since 2013
Hamas’s deputy leader and most senior figure in Gaza has visited Cairo for the first time since 2013 to meet Egyptian security officials.
Ismael Haniyeh arrived late on Sunday for a visit confirmed to AP by anonymous Egyptian and Hamas officials. According to Palestinian reports, Haniyeh discussed the security situation in Sinai, where the ISIS-affiliated terror group Sinai Province is engaged in a violent campaign against Egyptian forces. Haniyeh and Egyptian officials also discussed the restrictions on movement between Gaza and Egypt.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, which has close ties with Hamas. Al-Sisi’s government has repeatedly accused Hamas of actively aiding Sinai Province, using a network of tunnels to smuggle weapons and fighters into neighbouring Sinai from the Gaza Strip. Egypt has consequently clamped down on smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip-Sinai border and has kept Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza almost entirely closed until recently.
Last year, Egypt’s government accused Hamas of playing a role in the assassination of the country’s state prosecutor. Egypt’s Interior Minister, Magdi Abdel Ghaffar, said that Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat’s murder had been ordered by Muslim Brotherhood figures in Turkey, but that “Hamas trained, prepared and oversaw the implementation” of the attack.
Haniyeh’s visit is described by the Times as a sign that Cairo’s relationship with Hamas is “beginning to thaw”. In recent months, Egypt has increased the number of people allowed to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing and has allowed commercial imports into Gaza via Rafah for the first time since 2013.
Haniyeh is thought to have arrived in Egypt on his way back to Gaza from Qatar, where he visited Hamas’s overall leader Khaled Mashaal. It is thought that Mashaal will step down from his position within the coming months and Haniyeh is regarded, by the media, as a leading candidate to replace him. Mashaal’s deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk is the other main contender.