Israel Confirms Arms Shipment Sent to Aid Abbas

JERUSALEM, Dec. 28 — After coordination with Israel and the United States, Egypt has sent a shipment of weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip to forces loyal to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, Israeli officials said today.

Senior Palestinian officials denied the report, including the spokesman for Mr. Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, calling the story “Israeli propaganda aimed at aggravating the situation between Fatah and Hamas.”

But Israeli officials confirmed a report in the Haaretz newspaper that the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, approved the shipment in his meeting Saturday evening with Mr. Abbas. Four trucks with some 2,000 automatic rifles, 20,000 ammo clips and some 2 million bullets passed from Egypt through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, they confirmed, and were handed to Mr. Abbas’s Presidential Guard at the Karni crossing.
I completely understand why Israel would support Abbas and Fatah against Hamas, but why publicize it like this? The next Hamas IO move will be to label Fatah and Abbas puppets of the Israelis and the US.