Hamas calls on Egyptian authorities to release police chief.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas demanded that Egypt release a Gaza Strip police chief detained last week on suspicion of involvement in rocket attacks launched from the territory.

Ihab Al- Ghussein Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed that Egyptian intelligence officers had detained the police chief of Khan Younis, Ibrahim Marouf, on Thursday as he attempted to return to the Gaza Strip from Egypt , where he had accompanied his sick father for treatment in a Cairo hospital.  

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, breaking ties with the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank .  In a statement Hamas Minister confirmed that “Marouf is being interrogated at security headquarters  at the Sinai city of al-Arish

Egyptian security officials however have not confirmed his detention moreover Egyptian newspapers have offered contradictory accounts of the justifications behind Marouf’s detention.

The Palestinian Embassy in Cairo is staffed by officials loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, Hamas’ political rivals. This in itself gives rise to the authenticity of allegations