A former Israeli intelligence officer: Egypt is the next danger and has an interest in preserving Hamas’ capabilities in the Gaza Strip
A former officer in the Israeli Military Intelligence Division (AMAN) claimed that Egypt is the next danger to his country, and that Cairo has a great interest in the continued military capabilities of Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.
This came in an interview conducted by “103FM” radio, affiliated with Maariv newspaper, with retired Lieutenant Colonel Elie Dekal, a researcher in infrastructure systems in Arab countries, and former head of the Field Research Branch in the Research Division in (AMAN), Friday.
Dekal said, “On the first or second day of the war, after we had recovered from the first shock, we could have solved the problem not by settling with the Egyptians, but by occupying three kilometers north of Rafah in Gaza”.
He continued, “In this way, the continued sweeping flow of weapons and other things from Egypt to the Gaza Strip was prevented, and on the other hand, to prevent skirmishes with the Egyptians”.
He added, “They didn’t do that, and I don’t know why not, and I don’t know if they took that into consideration, but I only know that Egypt has a great interest in maintaining Hamas’ capabilities in the Gaza Strip”.
The former Israeli military intelligence officer added, “Egypt, since 1956, has had a great interest in eroding our power, which makes us drink the blood of all kinds of organizations like Fatah that they founded, and all kinds of things they did between wars in order to exhaust us, while they wash their hands clean”.
He said, “Since we have a peace agreement, and there are also US interests, there is a great Egyptian interest in weakening our power”.
Dekal claimed that Egypt was interested in waging a war with Israel, and said that when he was in service, he discovered about 60 tunnels from Sinai to Gaza, adding, “Although there are wonderful relations between us and the Egyptians, Egypt has recently begun digging huge tunnels”.
He added, “We’re talking about tunnels with an entrance diameter of seven meters, and perhaps tens of meters in length… Unfortunately, I don’t know all the tunnels in Sinai… There are tunnels in the mountains, and this is in order to preserve strategic weapons”.
He continued, “They’re tunnels for storing strategic weapons, which they began digging in Sinai last year, after they had already dug about 60 tunnels of this type on the western bank of the canal”.
Dekal added, “We’re the enemy, and I don’t know of another place where Egypt is arming itself, drilling and investing huge wealth in crossings, gates, ammunition and fuel… I don’t think that digging 60 tunnels in Sinai is against Iran… It’s an offensive weapon, and it will be protected from attacking our aircraft until they decide to launch it”.
Egypt had strongly rejected, more than once through its senior officials, starting with President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, the Israeli efforts to transfer the Palestinians in Gaza to Sinai, and considered that this meant liquidating the Palestinian cause.
According to the Israeli media, Cairo also rejected an Israeli demand to control the Philadelphia axis, a 14.5-kilometer-long strip that extends along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Egypt fought several wars against Israel, the last of which was on October 6, 1973, and the two countries signed an US-sponsored peace agreement in March 1979, while most Egyptians still refuse to normalize relations with Israel.
