A senior Hamas commander who reportedly defected to Israel by sea last week is providing Israeli security services with highly classified intelligence information about Hamas, Saudi news outlet Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday.

The Hamas commander was caught allegedly spying for Israel inside the Gaza Strip before fleeing to Israel with a laptop filled with “dangerous classified information” on surveillance technology communications equipment, phone numbers and maps.

The defector had served as the head of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ naval commando unit and had access to sensitive Hamas information. He was accused by Hamas of spying for Israel since 2009 before escaping by an Israeli naval vessel.

According to the report, which was quoted by Channel 12 News, the defector has mapped the locations of Hamas training bases, missile storage sites and hideouts of senior Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip for Israel.

Following the commander’s escape, Hamas carried out a wave of arrests, detaining dozens of suspects, and several members of the al-Qassam Brigades were accused of spying for Israel.

One of the detained operatives was identified by Palestinian media sources as Mahmoud Amar But Ajawa, who directed the technology department for Qassam Brigades,  trained counter-espionage agents and interrogated suspected collaborators with Israel. He has also been accused by Hamas of spying for Israel since 2009.

Hamas has vehemently denied reports of a commander’s defection. Israel has maintained silence on the matter.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)