KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Putrajaya denied today an Israeli report claiming Hamas fighters had used Malaysia as a training ground ahead of its latest strikes in the Gaza Strip.
The Malaysian government would not have allowed any kind of foreign militant training on its soil “including the good fight against Israel”, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told local broadcaster Astro Awani.
“It is impossible that such training is done in this country, the fighter’s statement is not true, in fact, it didn’t happen in this country,” the lawmaker was quoted saying further.
In a report earlier today, Jerusalem Post cited Israeli authorities as saying a Hamas cell commander its defence forces had caught earlier this month had revealed he and several of his Palestinian colleagues had been sent to Malaysia for training on how to carry out cross-border strikes and using powered parachutes.
According to an Israeli blog post, the captured Hamas leader said 10 people had taken part in the week-long training conducted in 2010, and the plan was to “parachute into Israel to kidnap and murder civilians”.
“They were warned to maintain secrecy, and not to reveal details of their Malaysian training to anyone,” the report said.
At least 1,361 people have been killed in the latest round of fighting in the Gaza Strip and nearly 7,000 injured, with the bulk of victims, Palestinian civilians, including women and children.
In comparison, Israel has lost 56 soldiers and three civilians with over 400 others injured.
Israel has been justifying its attacks against Palestine in the Gaza Strip to ferret out Hamas fighters, whom it — and several other nations including the US and Russia — has branded terrorists.
