Senior IDF Official: ISIS Members Recently Trained in Gaza

Members of the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group have recently entered Gaza through tunnels from Egypt to undergo military training in the Hamas-ruled enclave, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, said Friday.

Speaking to the Saudi news site Elaph and quoted by Haaretz, Mordechai said the ISIS members entered Gaza a few days ago with the support of a well-connected Hamas affiliate in the city of Rafah, adding that Hamas is helping the ISIS fighters receive medical care in Gaza's hospitals.

According to the Israeli general, the operatives used ties with Sayid Abed El Aal, who is close to Hamas and holds sway in the border town of Rafah. Mordechai explained that Hamas' field commanders were informed, and its top military and political leaders were updated on the issue.

Mordechai’s comments come just after Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Sinai on Wednesday and Thursday for the first time in three months.

The crossing has been mostly closed since a terrorist attack in the Sinai Peninsula in October 2014, in which Egypt claimed Hamas played a role.

After that attack, Egypt began creating a wide buffer zone along the Gaza border, in a bid to destroy the hundreds of smuggling tunnels Cairo says are used by Palestinian Arabs to deliver weapons to jihadists in the Sinai.

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