Hamas: Fatah used Google Earth to spy for Israel
Islamic group's spokesman claims Fatah agents used virtual map to pinpoint location of Hamas institutions, officials for Israeli air force during Gaza offensive. Fatah denies allegations
Hamas Monday claimed Palestinian Authority agents collaborated with Israel during the Gaza offensive, including using Google Earth to pinpoint targets in the Islamist-run territory.
"With the help of the Google Earth program, those groups prepared maps to localize mosques, institutions, tunnels or workshops," said Abu Abdullah, a senior intelligence officer in the Hamas government, which rules the Gaza Strip.
The targets were then hit by the Israeli air force, he said at a news conference.
Abu Abdullah said the information included plans of the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as well as the location of tunnels and weapons caches.
Hamas officials showed videos of alleged confessions by men who said they were members of Fatah, the secular archrivals of Hamas and the main faction in the Palestinian Authority.
"Officers and members of the Ramallah security services tasked their agents with tracking the movements of the resistance in Gaza," the spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry told the news conference, referring to the West Bank city where the PA has it headquarters.
"This information was sent to Ramallah then transmitted to the enemy which hit targets on the basis of this information collected before and during the war," Ihab al-Ghossein added.
In Ramallah, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to the Palestinian president, condemned the accusations from Hamas.
"This is part of a plan being carried out by Hamas leadership in Damascus to push back the Cairo dialogue," he said, referring to Palestinian reconciliation talks due Wednesday between Fatah and Hamas.
