No Gazans İnvolved İn Egypt Attack: Interior Ministry

The Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip on Thursday denied allegations that elements from the blockaded Palestinian enclave had carried out a recent attack on Egyptian troops in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.



Ministry spokesman Eiad al-Bozum said that recent Egyptian media reports that had cited names of people in Gaza allegedly involved in the attack – which took place last Friday and left 31 Egyptian troops dead and 30 injured – were groundless.



"None of these names [cited by Egypt's media] can be found in Palestinian records," al-Bozum said in a statement. "Some of the names mentioned belonged to people who were killed during Israel's recent military offensive against the Gaza Strip."



Friday's attack led to three days of mourning in Egypt, while the authorities began evacuating the border area with the Gaza Strip amid reports that the attackers had crossed into Sinai from the strip via cross-border tunnels.



Al-Bozum, for his part, said that some of the names cited by the Egyptian media belonged to residents of the occupied West Bank who had never crossed into Gaza.



He called on the Egyptian media to employ caution when publishing such reports and to stop inciting Egyptian public opinion against the Gaza Strip and its people.



By Ola Attalah



englishnews@aa.com.tr



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