GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Interior Ministry's security services in Gaza arrested a man accused of luring women and girls into collaboration with Israel after meeting them online and having romantic relationships with them, according to a Sept. 12 Facebook post by Gaza's all-female police unit.

The post stated that the man, in his 30s, confessed that he had been commissioned by an Israeli officer to lure women from Gaza into working with Israel by threatening to publish their pictures or recordings of romantic conversations.

Director of the unit in Gaza, Narimeen Adwan, told Al-Monitor, “This collaborator takes advantage of naive girls who chat with guys on social networking sites, and he tries to convince them that he is their long awaited bridegroom in order to exploit them and send all the information they provide to the enemy. Girls thus fall prey to the extortion of the [Israeli Security Agency].”

The announcement was part of the Sahwa campaign in partnership with the Culture and Free Thought Association, which is funded by the European Union, to raise awareness of the dangers of online extortion and other cybercrimes.