Gaza residents said Sunday they fear growing isolation and more hardships after an Egyptian court declared the territory’s ruling Hamas a terrorist organization. Some blamed the Islamic militant Hamas while others said Egypt is being unreasonable.
Hamas called for protests against the Egyptian government and issued angry statements, but did not offer a way out of the crisis. Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas spokesman, alleged Sunday that Egypt has become a “direct agent” of Israeli interests.
Hamas urged Saudi Arabia to press Egypt to open the Gaza-Egypt border. Egypt’s president met Sunday with the new Saudi king.
Saturday’s court ruling signaled Egypt’s growing hostility toward Hamas, an offshoot of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has blamed Hamas for violence in the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula, a charge Hamas denies.
A spokesman for the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has said that Egypt is now “unfit” to act as mediator in the talks about Palestinian reconciliation. Sami Abu Zuhri cited the recent court ruling in Egypt which lists Hamas as a “terrorist organisation” as the reason why it is no longer suited to a mediation role.
The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters, led by Judge Mohamed El-Sayed, ruled on Saturday that the movement in its entirety, not just the military wing, should be regarded as a “terrorist” group. The decision provoked a furious response in solidarity with Hamas, according to Middle East Monitor.
According to the Islamic movement, it is a “shocking” decision which targets the Palestinian people and resistance forces. “The court has turned the equation upside down,” it said, “making the Israelis friends and the Palestinians the enemies.”
