Hamas yesterday denied Egyptian claims that it is directly involved in the assassination of the late Egyptian Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat, calling the accusations “baseless”, AlKhaleejOnline reported.

Egyptian Interior Minister Majdi Abdul Ghafour accused Hamas of being involved in the assassination of Barakat, who was killed in a car explosion on June 2015 in Cairo.

“Barakat’s assassination plan was approved by the Muslim Brotherhood leaders who are in exile, in Turkey, and coordinated with armed wings in Gaza, Hamas, which was largely involved in the plan and supervised the whole operation from the start to the end.”

He added: “Hamas trained the members, who were tasked with carrying out the mission, after they were smuggled by Bedouins in Sinai to the Gaza Strip and then returned.”

Meanwhile, a Hamas official said relations with Egypt have witnessed a “considerable improvement”. “Hamas has been conducting discussions with Egyptian authorities aiming to advance mutual relations.”

(MEMO)