Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday about the possibility of strengthening terror organizations in the Sinai due to recent opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, local daily Ha'aretz reported.
Speaking at a conference of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, Netanyahu said that the new Egyptian government was having a "hard time" to control the international terror organizations in the Sinai Peninsula, which are "growing and stirring" due to its closeness to Gaza, Xinhua reported.
The prime minister pointed out the importance of keeping Egypt and the Sinai area free of militants after recent opening of the Gaza-Egypt crossing.
"Egypt has had difficulties exercising its sovereignty over Sinai," Netanyahu said, "and we saw this in the two gas pipe explosions that occurred there."
The natural gas flow from Egypt to Israel has been disrupted until now, after the pipes were hit by two bombing attacks this year.
Netanyahu's remarks came after a report by an Egyptian television station, stating that at least 400 al-Qaida members have crossed into the Sinai Peninsula.
"We are concerned about what happens around us, especially in Egypt and Jordan," he was quoted by Ha'aretz as saying.
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