Hamas-IDF cell phone war continues

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Since the beginning of the ongoing war in Gaza, IntelNews has frequently reported on the peculiar cell phone war that has been taking place between Palestinian group Hamas and the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces. Specifically, the IDF and Israeli intelligence appear to be randomly calling cell phones belonging to Gaza residents with messages prompting them to evacuate Hamas-affiliated targets. The tactic appears to have resulted in a backlash for the IDF, as Gazans receiving these calls often rush to roofs of potential target buildings in efforts to prevent the attacks. Moreover, Hamas seems to be employing a similar tactic to warn Israeli cell phone subscribers that Qassam rockets will fall “on all cities” and that “shelters [will] not protect” them. It now looks like Hamas is employing the cell phone trick to cause confusion in the ranks of IDF reservists. Israeli newspaper Ha’aretzi is reporting that Israeli reservists waiting to be called into action are receiving “numerous fictitious […] ’emergency call for duty’ messages” on their mobile phones. The messages, which claim to be from the IDF, order the reservists to proceed to the main IDF enlistment center in Haifa, where they are to receive instructions for deployment in southern Israel. The calls appear to be numerous enough to have sparked an official investigation by the IDF. The newspaper quotes an IDF reservist and student in Tel Aviv as saying that the fictitious messages seem to have been “planned, and not by anyone I know”.