Using Israeli telephone numbers and speaking in Hebrew, Hamas activists are trying to communicate with Israeli soldiers through the application of smart phones "Watsab", in order to obtain intelligence about the movements of the occupation army in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media published examples of talks between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants who presented themselves as soldiers in other units in the army, in order to obtain intelligence.
The daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday that Hamas had stepped up efforts to obtain intelligence from Israeli forces stationed around the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas activists identified themselves on the Internet as Israelis, communicated with the forces through the Watsab message service, and sometimes provided information they had already obtained about troop movements in order to obtain additional information."
The Israeli media: Hamas intelligence obtained important information about the plans of the occupation army by luring its officers through communication with them in communication sites, where Hamas fighters presented themselves as Zionist officers in other brigades |
In the past, the IDF has uncovered attempts by Hamas operatives to communicate with soldiers through Facebook accounts and other attempts to penetrate mobile phones or computers of Israeli soldiers.
It was unclear whether Hamas operatives had already obtained intelligence, but the Israeli army said the attempts had failed.
"Most of these attempts did not succeed in the first place because of the awareness of the Israeli army and the high level of preparedness," Yedioth Ahronoth said, adding that "one such attempt last month was successful, causing concern among the Israeli military leadership."
In this regard, it was revealed that a soldier in the Paratroopers Unit received a letter from Watsab from an unusual number. The letter was sent by a person who identified himself as a member of another unit requesting information, including when paratroopers would leave the area.
"It is worrisome that Hamas has been able to obtain a secret military document that includes the timetable for paratrooper unit training in the fighting in Gaza," it said.
Attempts by members of the military wing of Hamas to communicate with Israeli soldiers - according to the newspaper - were based on the geographical location and whereabouts of Israeli soldiers, and get their mobile phone numbers from social networks or Wattab groups.
The military correspondent of the newspaper believes that the information transmitted through the talks could be of great value to any enemy, knowing that the information included the timetable and times when the battalion leaves the area in which it was responsible and replaced by another new battalion.
In the aftermath of the Israeli-Israeli war, the Israeli army and the Qassam Brigades recalled that a large number of attacks and important incidents occurred in the past during the replacement of the battalion's soldiers, in which Israeli soldiers were kidnapped or wounded, including the Lebanon war The second kidnapping of soldiers by Hezbollah in 2006 or a field escalation on the Gaza front.
The Israeli occupation army said in a statement that it "is aware of the enemy's activity and follows its efforts through social media. We call on all military and civilian personnel to act with caution and responsibility."
In the Gaza Strip, there was no immediate reaction from Hamas to the reports.