CAIRO: The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip said it has stepped up patrols on the territory’s southern border after a suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday morning while trying to cross into Egypt.
“Security forces stopped two persons who approached the border. One of them blew himself up and was killed. The other was wounded,” the ministry said in a statement.
Several Hamas security personnel were injured, and hospital officials said one of them died of his wounds.
Security sources quoted by Reuters said the suicide bomber was a member of a Salafi group that is a rival to Hamas.
A Hamas official speaking to Arab News avoided calling the assailant a member of a Salafi group based in Gaza, referring to him as “a person of deviant ideology.” The term is occasionally used by Hamas to describe Daesh members and other extremists.
“We condemn this hideous crime committed against our security forces by outlaws,” said Mosheer Al-Masry.
“We offer our condolences to the family of the martyred security victim, and we vow not to allow anyone to harm the security of our people in Gaza,” he added. “Our people reject deviant thoughts, which don’t serve our just Palestinian cause.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. It is the first time Hamas has been targeted in a suicide attack.
Egypt on Thursday opened the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s main outlet to the outside world, for a fourth day to allow Muslims to embark on the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
While Cairo has not yet commented on the suicide attack, some Egyptian analysts link it to the opening of the Rafah crossing.
“There’s a correlation that suggests that attacks near our borders increase whenever the Rafah crossing is open,” said Mohammed Noureddine, a former deputy of Egypt’s interior minister.
“Hamas beefed up border security in coordination with Egyptian authorities in an attempt to strengthen ties with Egypt,” he told Arab News.
“Despite the attack, Egyptian authorities won’t go back on the decision to open the border crossing in both directions for humanitarian cases.”
Hamas has sought to secure Gaza’s borders in order to improve relations with neighboring Egypt, which is battling a Daesh affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula bordering Gaza. Hamas has largely observed a truce with Israel since the 2014 Gaza war.
Hamas guard killed in rare suicide attack in Gaza Strip
Hamas guard killed in rare suicide attack in Gaza Strip
International court sentences Sudanese militia leader to 20 years in prison for Darfur atrocities
- Abd-Al-Rahman stood and listened, but showed no reaction as Judge Korner passed the sentence
- It added that it also took into account the large number of victims, that included at least 213 people who were murdered
THE HAGUE: Judges at the International Criminal Court sentenced a leader of the feared Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years imprisonment Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the catastrophic conflict in Darfur more than two decades ago.
At a hearing last month, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman who was was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax in 2003-2004.
“He committed these crimes knowingly, willfully, and with, the evidence shows, enthusiasm and vigor,” prosecutor Julian Nicholls told judges at the sentencing hearing in November.
Abd-Al-Rahman, 76, stood and listened, but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Joanna Korner passed the sentence. He was handed sentences ranging from eight years to 20 years for each of the counts for which he was convicted before the court imposed the overarching joint sentence of 20 years.
She said that Abd-Al-Rahman “not only gave the orders that led directly to the crimes” in attacks that largely targeted members of the Fur tribe perceived as supporting a rebellion against Sudanese authorities, he “also personally perpetrated some of them using an ax he carried in order to beat prisoners.”
The court's prosecution office said that its staff would study the sentencing decision to decide whether to “take further action.” The office could appeal the sentence and renew its call for a life term.
The office said in a written statement that it sought a life sentence “owing to the extreme gravity of the crimes Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman was convicted of — murders, rapes, torture, persecution and other crimes carried out with a high level of cruelty and violence as a direct perpetrator, as a co-perpetrator and for ordering others to commit such crimes.”
It added that it also took into account the large number of victims, that included at least 213 people who were murdered, including children, and 16 women and girls who were victims of rape.
Abd–Al-Rahman, who is also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person convicted by the ICC for atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region, where trial judges ruled that the Janjaweed crimes were part of a government plan to stamp out a rebellion there.
The ICC has a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment, but judges have the discretion to raise that to life in extremely grave cases. Abd-Al-Rahman’s time in detention before and during his trial will be deducted from the sentence.
Abd-Al-Rahman’s crimes were committed more than two decades ago, but violence continues to plague Darfur as Sudan is torn apart by civil war. ICC prosecutors are seeking to gather and preserve evidence from a deadly rampage last month in a besieged city in the region.
The latest alleged atrocities in famine-hit el-Fasher “are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region” and “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the ICC statement said, noting that evidence could be used in future prosecutions.
Korner said that ICC sentences are imposed as a deterrent to prevent other crimes in the future.
“Deterrence is particularly apposite in this case given the current state of affairs in Sudan,” she said.
