Malaysia has never established any military deal with Hamas - Zahid

Malaysia has never established any military cooperation with Hamas or any other Palestinian organisation, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

In a statement Friday, he said so far, the ties between Malaysia and Palestine are merely based on trade, diplomatic and culture.

"Malaysia is also a strong supporter of the Palestinian struggle in terms of moral and humanitarian assistance.

"This strong support from Malaysians is due to the good relations between the leaders of the two countries which has been established for a long time, and this is probably why the Israelis are not satisfied," he said.

Ahmad Zahid was responding to a report in the Jerusalem Post where a Hamas member who was allegedly detained by Israel soldiers, claimed he had been trained to use powered parachutes in Malaysia as part of the group's preparations against the Israel Defence Force in Gaza.

He said, the Israeli intelligence agency, Shin Bet is trying to create a propaganda to tarnish Malaysia's good name with baseless accusations.

On Thursday, a senior Hamas leader, Khaled Qadoumi lashed out at allegations made by Shin Bet claiming that their fighters were trained to carry out cross-border attacks in Malaysia.

Describing Israel as a big liar, he stressed that the Zionist regime is only spreading propaganda messages as a ploy to cover up its weaknesses and atrocities in Gaza.