KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia denied Thursday that it is providing training for Hamas fighters in Gaza.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar said the government has never allowed the country to be used as a training ground for Hamas fighters, even if Malaysia supports the Palestinians.
"It does not matter what kind of freedom-fighting group they belong to, even those against Israel, we have never given permission to have such trainings here," he told the Astro Awani television station. "The report is incorrect."
The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday that members of a Hamas cell trained in Malaysia to carry out cross-border attacks against Israel using powered parachutes.
The newspaper said that a Hamas commander captured in the ongoing fighting told the Israeli security agency Shin Bet that he and nine other Hamas members travelled to Malaysia in 2012, where he learned how to fly a powered parachute.
Malaysian leaders both from the opposition and the government have criticised the Israeli government for its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza that have killed hundreds of people.