PA says Hamas ordered rocket attacks on Eilat...

Was Iran behind the attack???

The commander of Hamas' military wing in Rafah, Raed al-Atar, is responsible for ordering the firing of Grad-type Katyusha rockets at Eilat and Aqaba from Sinai earlier this week, Palestinian security officials say.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported yesterday that Egypt had declared a state of emergency in the Sinai Peninsula as part of a manhunt for the militants who fired the rockets.

It was also reported that senior security officials went to Sinai to investigate the incident and hunt down the militants, who are still believed to be in the peninsula.

Security sources told Haaretz that according to an investigation by Palestinian intelligence, Atar was behind the rocket attacks authorized by the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip, without the knowledge of the Hamas military commander there, Ahmed Jabari.

But Palestinian security sources said Atar carried out the attack with the approval of the Hamas leadership abroad and with the backing of Iranian intelligence agents, who appear to have initiated the mission.

The sources said the attack had been approved by the Hamas politburo chief, Khaled Meshal, based in Damascus.