Hamas denies ISIS presence in Gaza

Hamas senior leader Khalil Al-Hayyah has denied the real existence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip, Palestine newspaper reported on Sunday.

“Speaking about ISIS in Gaza is a kind of propaganda,” he said, noting that all security indications refute the existence of the terrorist organisation in the Strip.

“All what is here [in Gaza] is not more than a number of youths who admire ISIS fighting [in Syria],” he said. “Such youths are unstable and they change affiliation from time to time.”

Al-Hayya said that his movement has previously combated such “extreme ideology” with positive and constructive arguments and provided concrete alternatives for such youths.

He said that his movement would never turn a blind eye to anyone planning to cause chaos in the Strip and would never let such people have any effect on the ground.

Meanwhile, he denied that his movement has attempted to get closer to certain Arab countries through the promotion of splinter group. “Hamas does not work this way,” he stressed.