Cairo: Egypt, which has been scathingly criticised for constructing an underground barrier wall along its border with the Gaza Strip, is unlikely to turn its back on the Palestinian movement Hamas, whom official Egyptian media yesterday accused of killing an Egyptian border guard, according to an analyst.

"I do not think that any sensible official in the Egyptian government is ready to believe that such an incident, however tragic it is, should prompt Cairo to shun Hamas," Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at the state-run Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Gulf News.

Egypt's official media accuse supporters of Hamas, which rules Gaza, of shooting dead a 22-year-old Egyptian soldier on Wednesday.

Cowardly act

The shooting was part of turmoil, which erupted on the Egypt-Gaza border as a pro-Gaza convoy, led by British MP George Galloway, was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the impoverished Palestinian enclave.

Cairo blamed the convoy's activists of clashing with the Egyptian police, and detained seven activists from different nationalities on charges of rioting and injuring 17 Egyptian soldiers.

A senior Egyptian official has branded the killing of the soldier as a cowardly act.

"Egypt sternly warns all those hurting it that its patience has a limit," said Hossam Zaki, the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Without directly mentioning Hamas, the official said that Egypt would not tolerate any similar acts.

"Despite the irrational media reaction, I think neither the Egyptian government nor the people in Hamas are ready to part with each other," said Rashwan.

To substantiate his view, he said that Egypt did not stop its efforts to mediate a reconciliation pact between Hamas and its rival Fatah after hundreds of Palestinians breached through a border fence from Gaza in January 2009.

Rashwan accused the official Egyptian media of being "more loyal than the king" by drawing hasty conclusions and inciting the Egyptian regime against Hamas.

"I cannot believe that any inter-Arab difference would blind us to the fact that the Israeli occupation is the root cause of all these troubles," he added.

Investigation

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. However, anti-Israeli sentiment is high in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country.

"There should be an investigation into the incident of killing the Egyptian soldier instead of jumping to the conclusion that he was killed by Hamas snipers," said Rashwan.

"Egypt's interests should be served in a better way than distorting and exaggerating facts."

The international aid convoy of more than 500 activists, led by Galloway, entered Gaza from Egypt late on Wednesday after a month on the road.

The convoy was organised by the Britain-based group Viva Palestina, which planned to deliver hundreds of tonnes of aid in 200 vehicles. On Tuesday, Egypt told the activists that 45 vehicles would have to stay behind.

Clashes erupted between members of the convoy and Egyptian riot police in the Egyptian Mediterranean port city of Al Arish, and dozens of protesters and police were injured.

At a news conference on the Gaza side of the border late on Wednesday, Galloway said that 55 members of the group reached Gaza "bandaged, bleeding and bruised ... because they tried to bring medicine to the Palestinian people under siege in Gaza."