"Israeli officials worry that popular sentiment in Egypt will ..... lift the Gaza blockade

"... "We're preparing for the next battle," Mr. Nofal said in an interview.

Hamas commander Ayman Nofal greets supporters as he arrives in Nuseirat, in the Gaza Strip, earlier this month after breaking out of a Cairo jail.

To Israel, his return to the Palestinian enclave is an unsettling sign that Egypt's commitment to isolating Hamas and shutting down its crossborder network is waning. That development, Israeli officials say, is the most pressing of many security threats stemming from the departure of Mr. Mubarak, the Jewish state's only reliable regional ally.

Two Israeli officials familiar with intelligence reports said this week that Hamas, emboldened by Mr. Mubarak's resignation and its own successful crackdown on popular discontent at home, had stepped up the smuggling of militants and weapons through Egypt to be stockpiled in Gaza for use against Israel.

On Friday, Hamas won high-profile backing from Cairo when the influential Islamic cleric Yussuf al-Qaradawi, speaking at a large opposition rally, urged the interim military rulers to open "dignified negotiations" with Hamas and lift a wider blockade of Gaza that Mr. Mubarak had coordinated with Israel.

Egypt's interim leadership is divided over whether to lift the blockade, according to former Egyptian officials and analysts familiar with the military's thinking. Even if the blockade holds for now, Israeli officials worry that popular sentiment in Egypt will push an elected government lift it and cool the two neighbors' 32-year-old security alliance..."