DEBKAfile Exclusive: Iran is preparing consignment of 300 vehicles and two civilian aircraft for Gaza Strip - along with 50 Iranian “experts”. The plan is described by DEBKAfile’s Tehran and counter-terror sources as an Iranian move to seize control of the Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas transport minister Ziad Zaza, just returned from Tehran, formally asked Israel Sunday, May 21, to allow dozens of Iranian maritime and air transport engineers and technicians and heavy equipment to enter Gaza from Egyptian Sinai through the Rafah crossing. Hamas presents the proposed Iranian input as assistance for re-activating the Dahaniya airport and the construction of a deep-sea port in Gaza. The 300 vehicles “made in Iran” consist of police cars, ambulances, fire engines and 100 buses for the use of the forces of “law and order.”
DEBKAfileÂ’s sources report that both Hamas and Tehran know in advance that Israel will turn the application down. But they hope to make propaganda hay in Europe and the Muslim world by demonstrating that the Jewish state is in violation of commitments to help restore the Gaza StripÂ’s economy signed prior to its pull-back. |