Gaza - The de-facto Hamas government in Gaza denied Wednesday a report in an Israeli newspaper that dozens of radical Islamic militants had made their way to the Gaza Strip from Iraq.

The Ha'aretz daily reported that dozens of foreign Arab militants who had fought against US forces in Iraq had in recent months infiltrated Gaza, ruled by the radical Islamist Hamas movement.

Ha'aretz was quoting Israeli defence officials.

Ihab al-Ghusein, spokesman of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza, said in a statement sent to journalists that "what was published is totally untrue. We don't have groups or organizations in Gaza that serve other country's agendas."

"All the organizations and groups in the Gaza Strip are Palestinian groups whose main goal is to resist the Zionist occupation and have no other goals," said al-Ghusein.

Tuesday's Ha'aretz reported that most of the militants who had entered Gaza were members of worldwide Islamic Jihad (Holy War) groups, linked to al-Qaeda.

"This report aims at harming the legal resistance against the occupation. All the armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip are factions of resistance against the occupation and do not serve anybody else," said al-Ghussein.

He accused Israel of publishing the report "to create a status of security chaos in the Gaza Strip."

He nonetheless then admitted that there are minor numbers of radical Islamic "individuals, followed and observed by our security."

"But those individuals are not representing any danger on the general Palestinian security and stability," said al-Ghussein.

The Israeli defence officials had said the militants were trying to cause another stir-up in Israeli-Gaza violence. (dpa)