Hamas accused Cairo Tuesday of using the Rafah crossing’s opening to detain party officials as they travel abroad via Egypt following the detention of the Gaza government’s intelligence chief in Cairo.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told reporters that opening the border to trap Hamas officials was “unacceptable and inappropriate,” following the detention of General Security Service Commander Muhammad Dabaeesh, also known as Abu Radwan, at the Cairo International Airport.
“Several Hamas leaders and affiliates have been blacklisted by Egypt and cannot travel through Egyptian areas,” Barhoum said, adding that added that “tension peaked” when Dabaeesh was detained after traveling being permitted through the Rafah crossing.
Barhoum called the incident a trap, saying that if Dabbish was persona non grata in Egypt, than he should have been notified.
The spokesman said Dabaeesh, a member of the Hamas unity negotiations team, traveled to Cairo in 2009 several times to discuss possible routes to reconciliation with Fatah and in early 2010 traveled to Saudi Arabia via Egypt.
“He has never been denied passage, and never been accused of anything,” Barhoum said.
Gaza government leaders asked Egyptian intelligence for an explanation into the detention and were told that the officials would be released on Saturday, Barhoum said. “The release was postponed to Sunday, and then Monday, and Dabbish is still in detention,” the spokesman said.
“Egyptian media boasted the detention of Dabaeesh describing it as a major strike to Hamas … The reports even claimed he was smuggling communications equipment and cash for Hamas.”
An Egyptian security source told Ma’an of Dabaeesh’s arrest at the airport and said the arrest was made in connection to a thwarted attempt to smuggle millions of dollars worth of wireless devices into Gaza through the border-tunnel complex.
Hamas officials at the time warned that the detention would spark “degradation and tension” in Egypt-Hamas relations, already strained for several months.
In May, the Islamist movement denied reports that Egypt had frozen all contact with Hamas but said relations between Gaza and Cairo were tense following an escalation in security measures by Egyptian forces along the Gaza border.