Special Report: Hamas-led Cabinet Takes Office    

    GAZA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The spokesman for Hamas in the Palestinian legislature was caught with about 4.5 million euros (about 5.67 million U.S. dollars) at the Rafah crossing on the southern Gaza border with Egypt on Saturday, Palestinian security sources said.

    Salah al-Bardaweel, Hamas spokesman in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), was returning to the Gaza Strip from a trip to Arab countries via the Rafah crossing when customs officials found the large quantity of money in his luggage, said the sources.

    The seized money was later given back to al-Bardaweel after contacts between the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry and the bureau of the Rafah crossing, the sources added.

    Last month, Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip Sami Abu Zuhri was caught by European monitors at the Rafah crossing with about 639,000 euros (about 817,000 U.S. dollars) hidden under his clothes.

    Abu Zuhri was briefly held and released later and the money was confiscated by the Finance Ministry.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered an investigation into the incident.

    The Hamas-led Palestinian government is facing a deepening financial crisis due to the West's cutoff of crucial aid and Israel's freezing of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

    Local banks have also been reluctant to transfer aid pledged by Arab and Islamic countries out of fear for possible sanctions and lawsuits from the U.S. which labels Hamas a terrorist group.

    Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is sworn to Israel's destruct and has refused to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and honor previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements. Enditem