Exclusive: Israeli and Egyptian forces on high alert on Gaza borders over Hamas threats

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal voiced this threat Saturday, April 12.
debkafile‘s military sources report that the raid by Palestinian gunmen on the Israeli-Gaza fuel terminal – and murder of two of its employees, Oleg Lipson and Lev Cerniak – were meant to set the stage for a mass Hamas assault on the Gaza-Israeli border. Earlier this year, Hamas organized a “popular demonstration” of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who smashed their way through the Egyptian border to Sinai. After forcing Israel to close the fuel terminal, the Gaza population’s main source of fuel by its attack last Wednesday, Hamas plans to stage a mass protest against purported fuel shortages which is designed to end up flattening the border fence with Israel.
Our sources report that these shortages are a myth: Hamas has 800,000 liters of heavy oil and 200,000 liters of petrol in stock, but reserves it for “military use.” The population is kept short and ripe for action against “the Israeli and Egyptian blockade” of the Gaza Strip.
Cairo had enough of this ruse earlier this year. This time, Egypt has beefed up its forces on the Sinai-Gaza border, built a high wall along the Philadelphi strip and warned any Palestinians attempting an illegal crossing that they would be “shot like rats.”
In addition to preparing for Hamas to smash through Gaza’s borders by means of civilian “protest marches,” Israel is braced for Hamas or its allied terrorist groups to try and secrete suicide bombers into Israel – either from Gaza or by using the terror teams still at large in Egyptian Sinai, where a terror alert remains in force, especially at the holiday resorts. Friday, the Israeli Negev – civilian locations and army bases – also went on alert after intelligence tip-offs were received of planned Palestinian terror attacks.
The hard-line Hamas leader Meshaal will capitalize on his forthcoming talks with ex-US president Jimmy Carter to play on his sympathies by accentuating the “plight” of Gaza’s Palestinian population and attributing its cause to Israel’s “collective punishment.”