Israel Fears Hizbullah Attacks in Sinai as Egyptian Authorities Make Hizbullah-Linked Arrests
Israel has warned its citizens that militants operating in Sinai under Hizbullah direction and sponsorship could abduct Israelis vacationing in the area during the Jewish Passover holiday between April 8 and 16.
"There is a serious, immediate and concrete threat of Israelis being kidnapped and then taken to the Gaza Strip," said on Tuesday a statement from the counter-terrorism bureau, which reports directly to the prime minister”s office.
It warned that Hizbullah could attack Israelis in Egypt”s Sinai peninsula or single them out for abduction.
As a result of intelligence reports, the counter-terrorism bureau strongly advised Israelis not to travel to the area in the coming week.
Bureau official Elkana Har Nof noted that the warnings were not specific, but stressed that even "a few hundred Israeli tourists represent a fat target for terrorists."
Israelis regularly flock to Egypt”s Red Sea resorts despite a wave of attacks on tourists between 2004 and 2006 that killed more than 100 people.
The Israeli warning came the same day a prominent Islamist lawyer told the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera that Egyptian security forces have detained about 50 Egyptians, Palestinians and Lebanese for alleged ties to Hizbullah and Hamas.
Montasser el-Zayat, known for representing Islamist militants in court, said that the detainees are suspected of supplying Hamas with money and one Lebanese in particular is suspected of acting as liaison between Hizbullah and Hamas in Gaza.
The interior ministry would neither confirm nor deny the arrests.