Report: Egypt arrests 7 Israeli Arabs for spying for Hamas, Hezbollah

A prominent Islamist lawyer has told the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera that security forces have detained about 50 Egyptians, Palestinians and Lebanese for alleged ties to the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas militant groups.

Israel Radio reported on Tuesday that among the Palestinians are seven Israeli Arabs.

Montasser el-Zayat, known for representing Islamist militants in court, said Tuesday that the detainees are suspected of supplying Hamas with money and one Lebanese in particular is suspected of acting as liaison between Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza.

The Interior Ministry would neither confirm nor deny the arrests.

Egypt is very sensitive about the presence of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on its border and has several times arrested suspected fundraisers for the militants.