Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, visits Gen. Tawfiq Abu Naim. (Mohammad Austaz, Hamas Media Office via AP)
ISIS was apparently behind an assassination attempt on the head of the Gaza security forces.
General Tawfiq Abu Naim, the head of the Gaza Strip’s Hamas security forces, was wounded on Friday by an explosion that targeted his vehicle.
Several other Palestinians were injured in the incident.
Abu Naim was hospitalized at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza and released on Saturday.
Abu Naim served time in Israeli prisons and was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
The head of the Hamas terrorist organization’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, stated while visiting Abu Naim that the assassination attempt “will only strengthen the power and the steadfastness of Hamas.”
“It is wrong to believe that these crimes, whoever is behind them, can prevent us from moving ahead in the resistance path towards liberation,” Haniyeh stated, alluding to the fact that Hamas’ is charging Israel with the failed attempt on Abu Naim’s life.
He assured that “this criminal attempt will not diminish our resolve to achieve the Palestinian national reconciliation.”
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, explicitly accused Israel of being behind the assassination.
“We point the accusation fingers to the occupation [Israel] and its spies,” al-Hayya told reporters.
Israeli experts said that the Sinai-based Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate, against whom Abu Naim is leading a crackdown, is likely behind the attempt.
In recent months, Hamas has beefed up security along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, seeking to assure Cairo that it is fighting ISIS sympathizers who come in and out of the Strip for training and logistical support.
Abu Naim is overseeing the construction of a buffer zone on Gaza’s border with Egypt to keep ISIS fighters out, part of Hamas’ move towards the Egyptian government and away from a collaboration with ISIS.
In August, an ISIS-affiliated bomber blew himself up on the border between Gaza and Egypt, killing and wounding Hamas officials.
By: World Israel News Staff
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