Israeli military officials have confirmed that Hamas medical officials are treating ISIS wounded in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai of the Israeli Defense Forces confirmed in a Monday interview with Arabic newspaper Elaph that ISIS fighters from Egypt’s Sinai region are entering the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip through tunnels in order to receive medical treatment.
“We have received authenticated reports that ISIS members in Sinai entered the Gaza Strip through tunnels in order to receive treatment at Hamas hospitals,” said Mordechai.
He claimed that the same tunnels that Hamas uses to smuggle weapons and supplies are now being used to treat ISIS fighters. The new relationship with ISIS is thought to be an attempt by Hamas to regain losses from Egypt’s campaign to destroy the tunnels.
In November alone, the Egyptian government claimed to have destroyed 31 of the tunnels. Additionally, Israeli energy minister Yuval Steinitz revealed Saturday that Egypt flooded many of the tunnels at Israel’s request, and that the Israeli-Egyptian security relationship is now “better than ever.”
The Hamas tunnel-building campaign has been a security issue in Israel for some time, and has led to fears that an attack on Israeli civilians could come at any time. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on January 31 that any attack on Israel from Hamas tunnels would warrant a massive response.
“If we are attacked via tunnels from the Gaza Strip, we will act very strongly against Hamas, with much greater force than was used during Operation Protective Shield [Edge],” warned Netanyahu to a group of ambassadors during a conference in Israel.
The 2014 operation was Israel’s military response to continued rocket attacks on civilian population centers emanating from Gaza. Around 2,100 Palestinians are believed to have been killed during the operation, in addition to 66 Israeli soldiers and seven Israeli civilians. Israel claims many of the civilian are a result of Hamas terrorists using human shields.
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