Friday, January 23, 2009

Hamas says it captured spies in Gaza

Hamas says it has arrested dozens of people spying for Israel in the 23 days Tel Aviv carried out military operations against Gaza.

"The internal security service was instructed to track collaborators and hit them hard," the democratically-elected Palestinian government's Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab al-Ghsain said on Wednesday.

"They arrested dozens of collaborators who attempted to strike the resistance by giving information to the occupiers [Israel] about the fighters," he said.

In the wake of its onslaught against Gaza, Israel said that one of the main objectives of Operation Lead Cast was to topple Hamas.

Speculations were then high that Tel Aviv planned to make Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the rival faction, the ruler of the Gaza Strip.

A statement issued by Fatah in Gaza claimed that Hamas had carried out several attacks against Fatah members after Hamas and Israel announced their separate ceasefires.

"Shooting at the feet of Fatah members, brutal crimes of execution and throwing the bodies in the rubble of destruction" were carried out by Hamas, said the statement.

The Hamas spokesman, however, rejected the claims and called them "familiar lies and false allegations from Fatah and the forces of sedition".

"It is also an attempt to steal the light of victory and cover up how they bet on the enemy and their disappointment that the enemy could do nothing to return them (to power)," said Ghsain.

During the early stages of the recent war on Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that Fatah had formed a cell in Gaza to collect information on secret Hamas locations and pass it on to Israel. Barhoum added that the cell was under the leadership of senior Abbas adviser Tayeb Abdul-Rahim.

Hamas says several of its senior officials, including late Hamas interior minister Saeed Siyam, were killed by Israeli forces using intelligence obtained by the spies it claims to have taken into custody.

Israel waged war on Gaza on December 27. Press TV correspondents on the ground in Gaza have confirmed that the Israeli military operations have killed at least 1,330 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,450 others -- a large number of whom are civilians.

PressTV

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