Psychological warfare: Hamas used ‘Israeli’ SIM cards to call families of captives before release

A military operation by ‘Israel’ to gather intelligence on captives previously held in Gaza backfired, turning into an opportunity for Hamas to wage a campaign of psychological warfare against ‘Israel’.

Hamas used ‘Israeli’ SIM cards, which the ‘Israeli’ security system itself had distributed, to make calls to families of captives on the day of their release, according to a report by Hebrew news outlet i24NEWS.

The ‘Israeli’ SIM cards were initially dropped by the military during the war in areas where captives are potentially held.

The goal of the operation was to prompt Gazans to use the cards and provide intelligence details about the location of captives in the area.

Hamas Executes Counter-Operation

According to the report, Hamas collected the distributed SIM cards and decided to execute a counter-action: psychological warfare using the ‘Israeli’ SIMs.

Hamas reportedly collected the phone numbers of the families, and activated them a period of time before using them.