The Israeli occupation launches a continuous psychological campaign against the Palestinians, in addition to raids and repression (Al Jazeera)
Gaza -
“The enemy practiced the maximum degree of psychological warfare by threatening to move the military operation to the Rafah area, as part of pressure on the resistance.” This is an example of the “Home Front” publications that it broadcasts daily on its accounts on social media platforms, with advice and directives aimed at “strengthening our internal front, protecting the back of our resistance, and warding off the hostile psychological war being waged against it,” as it puts it.
Under the name “Home Front - Gaza Strip,” accounts were launched on various social media platforms on February 6, aiming to keep up with all developments and news related to the escalating Israeli war for the fifth month in a row, and to refute what it describes as “false and fabricated news.”
The Home Front uses a green map of the Gaza Strip with a red triangle as its logo. It features video clips documenting the guerrilla operations of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and its slogan is “A people embracing the resistance.”
Israeli blackmail
The activity of the Home Front accounts over the past few days seemed remarkable, as they discussed the resistance’s response to the “Framework Agreement” for the exchange of prisoners and the ceasefire. This agreement aims to end the bloody and destructive Israeli war that broke out following Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7 of last year.
In multiple publications, the Home Front linked the occupying state’s threat of a large-scale ground military operation in the city of Rafah to its attempt to blackmail the resistance into making concessions regarding any possible truce, ceasefire, and prisoner exchange agreement.
The Home Front says, "The enemy is unlikely to go for a complete invasion of Rafah. Rather, it will continue to threaten to enter it, or make attempts to enter a limited way east of Rafah or parts of it, as these are the last military pressure cards for the enemy army."
The Home Front bases this assessment on the fact that “the enemy threatened to invade the central region and withdrew without reaching more than 50% of it.”
The ground military operation launched by the occupying state in the city of Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, was met with international rejection and warning, for fear of massacres occurring against civilians in this city, which houses more than a million Palestinians, representing half of the Gaza Strip’s estimated population of 2.2 million people.
Home front:
The statements of Israeli officials about an imminent military operation in the city of Rafah, which is home to more than a million and a half Palestinians, are just to buy time and put more pressure on the Hamas movement to accept the truce that Israel urgently desires, without achieving any gains for the Palestinian resistance that has inflicted pain on the army...
- M. (@ma_lolla) February 9, 2024
Front protection
Journalists and activists share on social media platforms data published by the “Home Front” on real-life issues and tracking the movements of the occupation army in the field to guide residents and alert them to places of danger and travel through the Rafah land crossing, and to provide statistics related to humanitarian aid trucks.
In light of the frequent interruption of communications and Internet services, and their unavailability or poor quality for the majority of people in Gaza, the Home Front’s statements and daily publications help quickly reach information to those who need it and those interested in it, especially with regard to the travel of the sick and wounded through the crossing.
The Home Front devotes an area of its daily coverage to efforts to combat monopoly and the rise in prices in a way that Gazans describe as “crazy,” which has doubled their suffering and pain during the past months of war.
In a related context, Al Jazeera Net had monitored the intensification of the security services in the city of Rafah in escorting aid trucks coming from the Rafah land crossing with Egypt, to prevent thieves who block their way, seize them, and sell them at exorbitant prices.
Local circles say that the occupation army's targeting of police cars and assassination of officials and members of the units securing this aid aims to "stir chaos."
On Saturday morning, Israel assassinated 3 officials from the police investigation service in the city of Rafah, a few days after targeting a police car and killing 6 members in it, and targeting a civilian car belonging to a city police official.
Social media platforms were filled with consistent positions and opinions about the goal of this targeting of the police. Yahya Al-Azzazi said, “The goal seems to be to spread complete chaos. May God help everyone who tries to spread security and facilitate people’s lives. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.”
Muhammad Gharib agrees with Al-Azzazi that it is “an attempt to spread chaos,” especially in Rafah, which is home to more than a million Palestinians.
Muhammad Farwana says, "The occupation creates chaos, and kills everyone who tries to organize the country and fight this chaos." Mustafa Jabr suggests "forming committees of qualified people and volunteers within neighborhoods, markets, and roads, and preserving what remains of the home front in light of this targeting of the police leadership."
Counter propaganda
The "Home Front" appeared for the first time in May of last year, when the Ministry of Interior and National Security run by Hamas in Gaza announced the launch of a platform called the "Home Front." It said that it came within the framework of the keenness to provide information and the official narrative with the appropriate tools to citizens in The Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people continued, “in a way that contributes to stabilizing the Palestinian internal front, cutting off rumor mongers, and strengthening the windows of communication with citizens.”
She said at the time, “The platform will be dedicated to disseminating data and information in various fields that serve Palestinian society, especially in times of escalation, Israeli aggression, and emergency situations.”
The "Governmental Media Office" had stressed the need for everyone to stand up to their responsibilities, and said in a statement addressed to the Gazans, "Be careful not to let your people and your cause down, and do not be of assistance to the occupation by being drawn into its propaganda means and tools of psychological warfare."
The data on this platform disappeared throughout the past months of the war, until new accounts called “Home Front” were activated on the “Telegram,” “WhatsApp,” “X,” and “Facebook” platforms.
The Director-General of the Government Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, told Al-Jazeera Net that the home front platforms work in two tracks. The first is “to support the home front in messages directed to the citizens and our Palestinian people here in the Gaza Strip, by directing them to correct instructions that must be adhered to and followed in order to protect them, and to protect them.” Their families and their honorable families, as well as providing the information and guidance that our Palestinian people need in light of the aggressive genocidal war against our Palestinian people.”
The second path that Al-Thawabta identified for the home front is to "repel rumors and false news spread by the propaganda machine of the Israeli occupation, as well as refute the lies spread by the occupation and confront the psychological warfare practiced by the occupation against our Palestinian people."
The government official said, "The primary goal behind these platforms is to stabilize and support the home front and confront the psychological warfare and propaganda of the Israeli occupation."
Source: Al Jazeera