Egyptian government accuses Hamas of killing attorney general
The Egyptian interior minister made a shocking announcement by accusing Hamas of assassinating prosecutor Hisham Barakat back in the summer of 2015, further straining already fragile ties with the movement.
Accusations are flying in Egypt about Hamas' alleged involvement in the assassination of Attorney General Hisham Barakat, but Hamas is giving as good as it's getting.
At a March 6 news conference, Egyptian Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar accused Hamas of helping the Muslim Brotherhood kill Barakat with a car bomb June 29 in downtown Cairo. Ghaffar played a video of what he said were confessions from arrested Muslim Brotherhood members. The prisoners, according to Ghaffar, said that they had been trained in the Gaza Strip and that Hamas oversaw the assassination.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri quickly denied Egypt’s accusations that same day, saying they make no sense, as Hamas has been trying to improve relations with Egypt. On March 8, Hamas demanded Ghaffar's dismissal on the grounds that his accusations were inciting conflict and confusion and they harmed the relationship between the Palestinian and Egyptian peoples.
Ziad al-Zaza, former deputy prime minister of the Hamas government and member of Hamas’ political bureau, told Al-Monitor the charges are reminiscent of Hamas being accused of bombing the Saints Church in Alexandria in January 2011. "After the Egyptian revolution [that month], the Egyptian Ministry of Interior turned out to be behind the bombing of the church," he said. "This means that those making the accusations seek to tarnish the image of the Palestinian resistance, as there are local, international and regional parties that do not want a good relationship between Hamas and Egypt."
