Cairo: Judicial officials say the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters has banned the military wing of Gaza-based group Hamas, designating it a terrorist organization.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, say the lawsuit claimed the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades played a role in recent attacks against security forces in Egypt.
Following the ouster of a Hamas-friendly government in Egypt in 2013, Egyptian authorities have been working to destroy the network of cross-border tunnels to Gaza that Hamas considers a lifeline. Tunnel taxation has been a key source of revenue for the group.
After a major attack in October, the Egyptian military began clearing a buffer zone along the border with Gaza in an attempt to stamp out the last of the tunnels.
