IRAN TRAINING PALIS IN GAZA

Israel: Iranian trainers working in Gaza (World Tribune)
TEL AVIV — The Israeli military has located Iranian trainers in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military sources said Teheran has sent more than a dozen Iranians to train Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. The sources said virtually all of the Iranians were of Palestinian origin and granted Iranian citizenship.

"These were Palestinians trained first by Hizbullah in Lebanon and then in Iran," a military source said. "Many of these people provided training to Palestinians in Iran and were then sent to the Gaza Strip over the last 18 months."

The source said the Iranians were helping Palestinian factions in the development of weapons and combat techniques. The Iranians were also responsible for selecting Palestinians for intensive training in Iran.

The Iranian presence in the Gaza Strip has promoted military tactics developed by Hizbullah. The sources said this included the use of missile and mortar salvos on Israeli military positions near the Gaza Strip as a cover for Palestinian abduction operations.

"We are hearing from [the military's] Southern Command of a Hizbullah presence in the Gaza Strip," Immigration Minister Zev Boim, a former deputy defense minister, said.