Hamas condemns Egyptian FM's threatening remarks

The Hamas government condemned on Tuesday remarks by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi who threatened to use force against the Islamic movement which rules the Gaza Strip. Fahmi's statements were "surprising since they don't agree with Egypt's history and its role in protecting the Palestinian people, " said Ghazi Hamad, deputy foreign minister of Hamas. "Such remarks are dangerous and represent unjustified escalation," he told the Hamas official news agency Al-Rayy. Egypt will respond "harshly if we felt that some parties in Hamas or other sides are trying to harm the Egyptian national security," Fahmi was quoted Tuesday by the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat as saying in an interview at the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The relationship between Hamas and Egypt worsened after the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, a Hamas patron, on July 3. The Egyptian army has destroyed most of smuggling tunnels beneath Gaza's southern border with Egypt and shut Rafah crossing point, the main crossing for the people in Gaza, but opens it from time to time for humanitarian cases. Meanwhile, Hamas denies any involvement in turmoil inside Egypt.