Hamas: no medical aid to wounded IS elements

Officials in the Hamas-run ministry of interior denied on Monday earlier Israeli official's remarks that hospitals in the Gaza Strip provide medical aid to elements of the Islamic State (IS) who get wounded by the Egyptian army in the Peninsula of Sinai.

Eyad al-Bozom, spokesman of the Hamas-run interior ministry, said the Israeli occupation's claims are full of lies and are totally untrue."

Earlier on Monday, Israeli news website The Times of Israel quoted military source as reporting that jihadists went through tunnels from Sinai into Gaza and received help from Hamas in exchange for guns and money.

According to the report, there are a number of small Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip, who are claiming ties to the IS, and some of them have been trying to wrest some control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas, which is the de facto ruler of the Palestinian enclave.

Al-Bozom said the national security forces, who are guarding the borders area between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, doesn't allow any measure that damages or hurts the security and stability of the borderline area with Egypt.

Meanwhile, a senior official in the Hamas-run health ministry denied on Monday that hospitals in the Gaza Strip provide medical therapy to the IS elements that are wounded in Sinai.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza, said these reports "are causing tension and are totally untrue," confirming that the Palestinian hospitals in the Gaza Strip "are only providing medical treatment and services to the populations who live in the Gaza Strip."

Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip since 2007, had repeatedly denied reports published by Egyptian and Israeli media that the movement has ties with the IS and helps its elements who are active in the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai.

The Israeli accusations against Hamas were made as earlier reports said that parts of the ground of the borderline area between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt had recently collapsed after the Egyptian army pumped sea water into tunnels that were dug underneath the borders for smuggling.

Medical sources said that one of the local Palestinian workers was found dead in one of the tunnels in the southern Gaza town of Rafah that collapsed Monday morning.

Al-Bozom said over the past two weeks, around 22 tunnels had collapsed underneath the borderline area.

Hamas movement had slammed the Egyptian army's policy of pumping salty seawater into the tunnels and underneath the borderline area.

The Palestinians dug hundreds of tunnels underneath the borderline area with Egypt after Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized control of it.

The Palestinians said they dug tunnels to get their basic needs of fuels, foods and medicines. Enditem