Guards along the Israel-Egypt border
Guards along the Israel-Egypt borderIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Arab terrorists are attempting to take advantage of the chaos that inevitably follows a coup d’etat, but the Egyptian Army appears to have been prepared for that possibility.

In a Cairo suburb, security forces arrested four people on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. All four were members of the Hamas terrorist organization, a security source told the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper.

Explosives were found in the apartment during a search, as well as military and police uniforms. The suspects were taken into custody for interrogation.

On the day prior to Wednesday’s coup, the Egyptian Army had already moved tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) to the country’s northern border with Gaza. The move came as a strategy to foil attempts at terror or infiltration from the region or through the Sinai Peninsula.

Nevertheless, along Egypt’s border with Israel, a group of unidentified smugglers attempted to infiltrate through the border early Thursday morning.

They didn’t make it.

Egyptian soldiers opened fire at the group as they approached the border, stopping them in their tracks. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Officially, the Hamas terror organization has said it will not offer any reaction to the ouster of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi, Xinhua reported Thursday morning.

The situation in Egypt is "dangerous," said a source in Hamas who asked for anonymity, but added "it won’t influence the situation in Gaza," even though both Hamas and Morsi are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Hamas didn’t lose anything when [former Egyptian President] Hosni Mubarak was ousted and it won’t lose anything because Morsi was ousted," the source said, expressing hope that stability in Egypt will soon be resumed.

Gazans often cross the southern border to do their shopping and visit relatives in Egypt.