A Hamas security operative who was a member of the organization’s military wing was killed in the Gaza Strip last night in a suicide attack apparently carried out by an Islamic State operative in the enclave’s Rafah border with Egypt. The Hamas Interior Ministry in Gaza announced that a Hamas security force stationed on the border arrested two suspects who approached the border with Egypt when one of the suspects blew himself up. The Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported that the terrorist was a Palestinian Islamic State operative and a resident of Rafah in his twenties and that he, together with another operative, attempted to infiltrate into Sinai from the Gaza Strip. The commander of the Hamas force was reportedly killed in the explosion and several Hamas operatives were injured, including one sustaining serious injuries. Hamas announced a state of alert in the southern neighborhoods of Rafah and Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The suicide bomber’s family, whom are residents of the Palestinian enclave, announced that they disavowed him and the crime that he committed and that it would not put up a mourners’ tent or hold a burial ceremony.
