FALCON POWERS – The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday about an operation launched by the Israeli military to blackmail residents of the Gaza Strip, where they threatened to publish photos of people they claimed were collaborating with Hamas and informing on their neighbors.
In the report published under the title “The Israeli Military Launches an Extortion Operation Against Gaza Residents: Contact us or we will publish that you informed on your neighbors to Hamas”, the newspaper says the Israeli military began publishing identification photos and information of Gaza Strip residents whom it claimed were agents spying on other residents on behalf of the Hamas internal security apparatus.
The Israeli newspaper adds that the military threatened to continue publishing information about others if they did not contact the Israeli forces in Gaza.
According to Haaretz, the information published by the military is part of the intelligence materials it seized during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
A military source told Haaretz newspaper that the Israeli military had obtained legal permission to use this information to blackmail Gaza residents, pointing out that the essence of the operation aims to “stir up public opinion in the Strip and show that Hamas is tracking them and monitoring the finest details of their lives”.
It was told to the newspaper that the Israeli General Security Service is not involved in this operation. According to the military source who spoke to Haaretz, these men were recruited by the Hamas internal security apparatus to spy on Gaza residents, and in this role they provided Hamas with personal information about ordinary citizens.
Last Friday, the Israeli military dropped leaflets with the name “Al-Kashef” from the air over mosques in several locations in Gaza, apparently during the noon prayer, containing photos and ID numbers of 130 men.
