Shin Bet exposes how Hamas tried to use Israelis to unknowingly deliver explosives
The Shin Bet internal security agency on Wednesday exposed a Hamas espionage operation, during which the terrorist organization tried to solicit Israeli citizens to deliver packages without knowing what was inside.
According to the revelation, the deliveries carried explosives or weapons intended to carry out attacks against “quality targets” in Israel. Another purpose was “training” of the delivery persons.
The operation was in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Police, in an ongoing catfishing phenomena that began before the war in Gaza.
Shin Bet said Hamas operatives were working from within the Gaza Strip to use specifically Jewish Israelis to carry out these missions.
“The Facebook profiles operated by Hamas were covered by both men and women, who posted ads to locate messengers in different regions of the country on Facebook groups dealing with occasional messengers,” the Shin Bet explained in a press release.
Furthermore, the operation was described as consisting of released Palestinian prisoners from the Gilad Shalit exchange in 2011 and now directing terrorist attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.
The IDF and Shin raided the Hamas office in the Gaza Strip, locating computers and paperwork on the operation and terrorist infrastructures that acted against Israel.
An example provided by the Shin Bet statement was a correspondence between Hamas operatives and Jewish Israelis in the Jerusalem area, during September 2023, providing various tasks in Israel and the West Bank.
“The Israelis were asked to perform tasks including transferring shipments, receiving money, purchasing gifts and leaving them at various points, without coordinating a meeting with the recipient of the package,” Shin Bet explained.
“Among the places where they were asked to leave the gifts – a synagogue, a cemetery and the doorsteps of private apartments throughout Israel,” it added.
Source » i24news.tv
