Gaza civilians ignoring IDF cell phone warnings

Nizar Rayan

IntelNews has reported in recent days that Israeli intelligence are employing cell phones to warn Gazan civilians that they may killed if located nearby Hamas-affiliated targets. Specifically, an undisclosed number of Gaza residents have been receiving “unusual phone calls” with an automated request in Arabic “that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety”. It now appears this technique has resulted in a backlash for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), as Gaza residents receiving such calls often rush to the roofs of potential target buildings in efforts to prevent the attacks. An article in The Australian reports that “in some cases, [Gaza] residents have gone up to the roof to show themselves to circling aircraft and succeeded in preventing the attack”. As a result, Hel HaAvir (the Israeli Air Force) has adopted a controversial technique it calls “roof knocking”, that is, shooting at “an unoccupied corner of the roof” of a targeted building, to convince the civilians to leave. The backlash of the Israeli cell phone warnings appears to have been so extensive as to convince senior Hamas official Nizar Rayan to feel safe at his home in Gaza, so long as he was surrounded by his immediate family, including four wives and over a dozen children. He was among a minority of senior Hamas officials who decided to adopt this tactic. On January 1, however, the Israelis decided to kill Rayan along with several of his family members. Israeli radio reported that he was incinerated by an Israeli guided missile, along with his four wives and at least 11 children. [IA]