Egypt's interim president Adly Mansour
Egypt's interim president Adly MansourReuters

Egyptian newspaper Alyoum Alsaba has reported that Egyptian security forces intend to take away the citizen status of 13,757 Palestinians because of their support for Hamas. The report is quoted by Israeli daily Maariv.

The Palestinians affected by the move received citizenship during the year in which Islamist Mohammed Morsi was in power. It comes after an Egyptian court decided Tuesday to declare Hamas a terrorist organization and to seize the group's assets and funds in Egypt.

The Cairo court banned Hamas's activity. It ordered the organization's institutions in Egypt shut down immediately and their assets seized. The decision followed reports of Hamas's involvement in the wave of terrorism that has plagued the country since the Muslim Brotherhood government headed by Morsi was ousted from power.

The court decision requires government approval, but Egyptian media said that it had been made at the request of temporary president Adli Mansour, as well as the prime minister and minister of the interior.

Hamas denied the accusations against it and the court verdict. “This is a dangerous precedent that will have negative implications,” said a member of the group's political leadership, Izet Alrashek. “This will give legitimacy to the continuation of the unjustified siege of the Gaza Strip and encourage the Zionost enemy to carry out further attacks in Gaza,” he said, adding that it “grants support to the enemies of the Palestinian people and to its right of resistance.”