Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Troops

Press TV, Sat Feb 5, 2011 12:12PM

 An Egyptian border policeman stands guard on Rafah border. Over the last three days, Gazans have been giving food to Egyptian soldiers isolated on the Gaza border since the beginning of the popular revolution.

Underground tunnels, which were used to bring basic goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, are now working in the opposite direction.

Egyptian soldiers, who have been isolated on the Gaza border for the past 10 days, due to the internal upheaval, are getting bread, canned food and other supplies from the impoverished coastal enclave through the tunnels.

Gaza's merchants have also been sending vegetables, eggs and other staples into Egypt, where store owners have run out of stock because normal supplies are cut off by the unrest, Ha'aretz reported Friday.

Since 2006, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have resorted to the so-called feeding tubes to deliver their basic needs to the enclave which has been sealed off by an Israeli blockade.

Rafah is the main entry and exit post between Egypt and the coastal enclave.

Millions of people have been holding daily protests in Egyptian cities for the past 12 days. The demonstrators are demanding an immediate end to the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The violence has claimed around 300 lives so far.

FTP/JM/MGH/MMN

Nofal: We got out of jail against the will of the oppressors

[ 06/02/2011 - 05:25 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

 Qassam Brigades leader, Ayman Nofal, told the PIC on Saturday night that the Palestinian prisoners got out of the Egyptian jail "against the will of the oppressors".

He expressed appreciation for all those who arrived to his home in Gaza to congratulate him on his safe return from the Egyptian regime's captivity.

He also thanked the media that displayed solidarity with his case and with all the Palestinians who took part in rallies demanding his release.

Nofal said that they came under intensive fire by jailors during the escape and that he was slightly wounded in the incident.

The Qassam commander said that relatives of Egyptian detainees stormed the jail, which led to their release from captivity.

Qassam leader Nofal in Gaza after being released from Egyptian jails

[ 06/02/2011 - 01:21 PM ]

GAZ, (PIC)--

Top leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Ayman Nofal, arrived on Saturday in the Gaza Strip after he was released from Egyptian jails.

An informed source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that thousands of Palestinians received Nofal upon his arrival at his home in Nusayrat refugee camp and congratulated him on his release from Egyptian prisons.

The Egyptian security apparatuses kidnapped Nofal on January 27, 2008 when thousands of Gazans knocked down the border wall in Rafah area in order to buy basic needs from Egyptian stores.

He was reportedly exposed to severe torture at the hands of Egyptian interrogators in a bid to extract some information about the whereabouts of the Israeli occupation soldier and prisoner of war, Gilad Shalit,  and the activities of the Palestinian resistance.

Egypt's popular uprising

Many political analysts believe that the regime of Hosni Mubarak is falling apart and the events in Egypt are gradually moving towards imminent decisiveness in favor of millions of protestors who demand the removal of the whole political system.

The fig leaves covering the body of the ruling family has also started to fall, where Britain's Guardian newspaper revealed in a report a few days ago that Mubarak and his family have a fortune of about 70 billion dollars according to analysis by experts from the middle east.

Much of this family's wealth is in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.

After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in up market homes and hotels, the newspaper said.

In Cairo, thousands of Egyptians has started since yesterday to flock into Al-Tahrir Square to participate in a mega rally in the context of a new week of protests to be held Sunday in support of the steadfastness of the young protesters there.

Christian leaders in Egypt also announced they would perform Sunday prayers in the square and would participate in the gathering calling for the removal of Mubarak.

Protesters were seen hanging banners with pictures of the victims who were killed in the events that broke out on January 25.

Jailed Hamas leader returns from Egypt

Hamas member arrives in Gaza after escaping Egypt jail

Published today (updated) 06/02/2011 15:21 GAZA CITY (Ma'an) --

A leader of Hamas' armed wing arrived in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after escaping from an Egyptian prison.

Thousands of prisoners broke out of jail in Egypt amid security chaos as ongoing anti-government protests spread across the country.

Al-Qassam Brigades member, Ayman Noufel, returned to the Al-Buraij refugee camp in central Gaza, where he was received by his family and senior Hamas leaders.

Noufel was detained three years ago in El-Arish, when thousands of Palestinians broke out of Gaza through the wall on Egypt's border.

He was one of eight Palestinians who escaped from Egyptian jails, six of whom have returned to Gaza.

The whereabouts of the remaining two is still unclear, but their families said they received unconfirmed information that Egyptian forces detained them at a checkpoint near Sheikh Zuwayid, a city 15 kilometers from the Gaza border.

According to official statistics in Gaza, 39 Palestinians were in Egyptian prisons before the protests broke out. More than a dozen had court orders mandating their release, but Egyptian security insisted on keeping them in custody.

The oldest detainee to escape was Mu’atasem Al-Quka, who spent seven years in Abu Za'abal prison accused of affiliation with Hamas.

He added he did not know at first what he was charged with but was later told it was for being a member of a movement banned in Egypt.

Al-Quka said he was ill-treated in Egyptian prisons especially in Abu Za’bal prison. He said prisoners were able to flee the jail because Egyptians demolished its walls.