Photo Credit: Ma'an
Gaza's de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, during a speech in Gaza City.

The head of Hamas in Gaza said Egypt’s new president would shield Gaza from attacks by Israel and would lift the blockade.

Ismail Haniyeh told worshippers in a mosque Friday that he is confident Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi “will never provide cover for any new aggression or war on Gaza,” Reuters reported. “We are confident that Egypt, the revolution led by Morsi, will not take any part in blocking Gaza,” he added.

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Morsi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist party.

Israel maintains a blockade on Gaza in an effort to keep weapons out of the strip.

So far, Hamas has seen no policy shift since Morsi’s election, and, according to Reuters, diplomats are saying the Egyptian leader had so many domestic problems that he could scarcely afford to spend much time on the Palestinians.

Both President Abbas and Hamas are expected to be urged by Morsi to end their conflict, which resulted in a civil war in Gaza a few years ago.

“No one can help the Palestinians more than they can help themselves. They should take daring steps to end their rifts,” an official in Cairo told Reuters.

JTA contributed to this report.

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Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.