Hamas and ISIS are cooperating in Sinai

TIP

The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas is allowing injured Islamic State militants into the Gaza Strip to be treated and the transfer of weapons into Sinai to be used by ISIS’ branch based on the desert peninsula, Avi Issacharoff of The Times of Israel reported Sunday.

Issacharoff wrote that “one of the main smuggling tunnels [connecting Gaza and Sinai] is operating under the protection of Hamas and belongs to a smuggler who works with [Hamas].” The weapons are mostly anti-tank missiles and roadside improvised explosive devices: “The roadside bombs are a major challenge to the Egyptian Army; every week they inflict heavy casualties.” Issacharoff continued, “Explosives experts from [Hamas]…have arrived in the Sinai to assist with the assembly of the devices.” He noted that a former Hamas operative, Abed al-Hila Qishta, had his death announced by ISIS’ Sinai branch several days ago – he trained ISIS fighters in the use of anti-tank weapons and, despite severing relations from Hamas and joining the Popular Resistance Committees (another terrorist organization), he “has remained in close contact with [Hamas’] commanders in the Gaza Strip.”

ISIS and Hamas have a history of collaborating across the Gaza-Sinai border. Issacharoff reported in August that their “cooperation has seen injured IS fighters routinely brought into the Strip for treatment, alongside ongoing weapons smuggling over the border.” Furthermore, he continued, “Egyptian sources say they were likely smuggled into Gaza via tunnels…that facilitate the connection between the two Islamist terror groups.”

Hamas provides “tens of thousands” of dollars per month to ISIS in Sinai—money deliberately earmarked for securing weapons shipments. Hamas trains ISIS fighters in planting deadly IEDs and firing lethal anti-tank missiles, and has smuggled weaponry across the border into Sinai. Top level officials from both organizations cross borders to coordinate their activities. Hamas terrorists have joined ISIS in Sinai and at least one senior Hamas official has been killed fighting alongside ISIS. In another dispatch in July, Issacharoff classified the relationship between Hamas and ISIS’s Sinai Province as one of “close cooperation.” Hamas has also launched drones to spy on Egyptian troop movements in Sinai along the Gaza border, part of an effort to “keep smuggling routes open between Sinai and Gaza. These routes are vital to Hamas on one side of the border, and Islamic State on the other.”

The mutual defense concerns shared by Israel and Egypt have led to “unprecedented” intelligence and security cooperation between the two countries.