Cairo severs ties with Hamas for refusing to hand over ISIS associates

Egypt Saturday broke off ties with the Gaza Strip after its Hamas rulers refused to arrest Palestinian and Egyptian individuals suspected by Egyptian intelligence of serving the Islamic State organization in Sinai, Saudi sources disclose. Hamas also denied Cairo information about the four Hamas members who crossed into Sinai last year to join ISIS. DEBKAfile adds that the four terrorists were entrusted by the Hamas military arm Ezz e-din al-Qassam with aiding the Islamic State’s fight against the Egyptian army.

Hamas official, Mahmoud Az-Zahar, admitted that communications with Cairo had been halted, saying: “We do not play this game. Things have stopped there.”

Egypt obviously does not buy Israel’s official contention that Hamas is pursuing Salafi elements linked to ISIS-Sinai which was offered after they fired another rocket into Israel last week.