The Middle Eastern threat of ISIS has been burning news outlets for the last month or so. In such a short time, ISIS has spread across most of northern Iraq and Syria, destroying mosques and shrines along the way to bring in the New Islamic Caliphate . However, there is another player in this intense war, and it has to do with the Hamas and Israel. As of now, Hamas has been hammered by Israel with nine tactical strikes taking out specific military landmarks.
Now there is evidence that ISIS has invaded the Gaza Strip where Hamas is located. Has Hamas lost control of the Gaza Strip? If so, were the attacks to Israel actually done by ISIS?
According to an article by Gatestone Institute , there is photographic evidence showing that the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq – also known as “The Islamic State” or ISIS – has begun operating in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authorities and Israeli security sources have said they are convinced some of the followers of ISIS in the Gaza Strip are responsible for some of the recent rocket attacks on Israel. And what is worse, Hamas says they seem to be losing control over dozens of terror cells belonging to ISIS and other groups.
Eyad al-Bazam, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior, denied reports that ISIS had infiltrated Egypt through tunnels along the borders of the Gaza Strip. He described them as “lies and fabrications” adding to the campaign to “distort the image of the Gaza Strip”. He later proclaimed there is no presence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip.
Unfortunately for Hamas, they are obviously nervous about the presence of ISIS terrorists in Gaza Strip and they see them as a direct challenge to their rule. ISIS believes that Hamas is “too moderate” and is not doing enough to achieve the destruction of Israel. As a matter of fact, it is also reported that Hamas is doing all they can to contain any ISIS news in Gaza Strip from leaking to the world. Last month, Hamas sent police and militias to disperse an organized rally of ISIS followers in the Gaza Strip. They were celebrating recent “military victories” in Iraq.
However, Now The End Begins did state that during the dispersing of the rally, Hamas prevented local journalists from covering the event. This was surely done in part to attempt the existence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip. And if ISIS does have control of the Gaza Strip, it is very bad for the rest of the Arab world against them as well as Israel because ISIS will have access to another country who also has concerns about the terrorist group: Egypt.
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