Why not make common cause with those who share the same beliefs, ideology and goals?
“IDF: Hamas Militants Fighting Alongside ISIS in Sinai,” The Tower, March 14, 2016:
Militants from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas are fighting alongside the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula, while ISIS fighters are continuing to receive treatment in Gaza hospitals, a senior IDF official told Palestinian media.
Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, specifically cited a Salafi militant named Mahmoud Z. who has allegedly been coordinating between the two Islamist groups, as well as Ibrahim Abu Qureia, an ISIS fighter who recently received medical care in Gaza.
Mordechai added that Hamas has been seeking to exploit the Erez crossing on the Israeli border for terrorist activities, and warned that continuing those attempts would negatively impact Israel’s good-faith efforts to help with Gaza’s reconstruction.
Israeli security officials told Ynet on Saturday that Hamas had permitted Salafi leaders from Gaza to travel to Sinai, where the local ISIS affiliate is fighting against the Egyptian military. At least two men—Hamas militant Mohammed Sami Gint and Mahmoud Nimr Abdel Latif Zagrah—left Gaza to fight with ISIS, they claimed. Their comments were made the same day Hamas leaders traveled to Egypt in an effort to repair ties with Cairo, which have deteriorated in recent years.
Egyptian security officials were quoted on Thursday by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronot as saying that Hamas was building 3-mile-long “mega-tunnels” into the Sinai. Egypt has been aggressively destroying Hamas tunnels that breach into its territory, and its intelligence service has echoed the Israeli assessment that Hamas is involved in arms smuggling with ISIS-Sinai Province.
Mordechai told the Arabic news site Elaph in February that the same tunnel network that Hamas uses to smuggle arms and explosives into Gaza serves as a crossing for ISIS fighters, which Hamas is treating in exchange for money and weapons. Israeli sources familiar with the situation told Elaph that Israel is keeping Egypt informed of ISIS’s movements in the Sinai and of the group’s relationship with Hamas, and has provided the Egyptian military with aerial photographs of tunnel openings along the Sinai-Gaza border.
Ynet reported in December that Hamas has been funding ISIS-Sinai Province with tens of thousands of dollars per month in weapons sales, and that the IDF was intensifying efforts to collect information on the group after it issued several threats against Israel. ISIS-Sinai Province is believed to have thousands of jihadists in its ranks and receive millions of dollars in aid from funders abroad, giving it the capacity to attack Egyptian targets on a daily basis.
According to Egyptian authorities, Hamas’ logistical support and training was key in facilitating the rise of ISIS-Sinai Province. The ISIS affiliate’s leader, Shadi al-Menei, reportedly met with top Hamas leaders in December in an effort to bolster their coordination….