The IDF posted a status on Facebook on August 10 threatening Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip, after discovering two tunnels constructed by Hamas under a mosque and an apartment building in the village of Beit Lahiya.

The commander of the Israeli military's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Yoav Mordechai, was behind the Facebook post, which stated that Palestinian civilians living in the area are threatened by Israeli military attacks.

Photo: COGAT's Facebook post included an image showing the mosque and apartment building, where 21 people live in the building including 12 children. 

Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Gaza) had responded and called Israeli military to halt threats immediately against civilians in Gaza.

Days after the COGAT post on Facebook, apartment owner, Omar Hammad, received a phone call from an individual who identified himself as a member of Israeli military intelligence.

The officer informed Hammad that his life and his family's were in danger as their home was marked as an Israeli military target.

Israel's claims of tunnels do not justify threats to attack civilians and destroy their homes, Adalah said.

Adalah and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights sent a letter to COGAT commander Mordechai and Chief Military Advocate General Sharon Afek asking them to remove the social media post threatening the Gaza family immediately, according to an Adalah press release.

"One cannot consider these things as a method of warning prior to attack, as an attack of this sort by the Israeli military would mean a direct strike to a civilian population and civilian target, which is forbidden by laws governing warfare and which borders on war crimes,” Adalah Attorney Muna Haddad said in Adalah letter to Israeli officials.