JERUSALEM, March 30 (UPI) -- Israel is holding a Palestinian engineer from Gaza because of his alleged ties to Hamas and possible knowledge of Gilad Shalit, Der Spiegel reported.
Last week, an Israeli court partly removed a gag order concerning Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, who allegedly was abducted while in Ukraine and brought back to Israel.
The German weekly reported Western intelligence circles said Ukrainian agents kidnapped Abu Sisi on a train in Kiev in February and later handed him over to Israeli officials.
One informant told the weekly Israel believes Abu Sisi is a high-ranking Hamas official who knows a number of secrets.
"If Mossad goes to such an expense and interrogates the man for six weeks, then he must know something Israel absolutely wants to hear," an unnamed source told the German weekly. If Abu Sisi was just an "irritant," he would have simply been killed, the source said.
However, Abu Sisi's cousin, Ghazi Abu Sisi, told Israel Radio Wednesday the engineer has no ties to Hamas and said his arrest was a mistake. He said a lawyer from the International Red Cross spoke with his cousin Tuesday and said his condition is good.
Another source told Der Spiegel Jerusalem believes he may have information concerning Shalit, the Israeli soldier abducted in June 2006 near the Gaza border and held incommunicado ever since.
