Hamas warns youth against dealing with Israeli recruitment sites

A Hamas-led Interior Ministry in Gaza yesterday issued a public warning to Palestinians in Gaza against dealing with suspicious sites believed to be operated by the Israeli intelligence that aim to recruit informants in the enclave.

The ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook: “Once you log into one of those sites, you are already on a list of potential informants.”

According to the statement, the ministry will punish those found guilty of accessing the sites in question for a period ranging between seven and 11 years in prison in addition to a charge of providing information.

The ministry demanded young people avoid contact with “suspicious sites” all the time.

The sites are believed to be run by the Israeli intelligence apparatus which offers young Palestinians in Gaza a better life in exchange for supplying it with information on the Palestinian resistance, Hamas’s weapons and tunnels as well as missing Israeli soldiers.

Last year, Hamas said it arrested several alleged collaborators and executed some of them.