GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A calm has descended over Gaza in recent months with no military confrontations between Palestinian armed factions and Israel following agreement on Egyptian-mediated understandings in May to ease the pressure of the blockade on the enclave. That said, it appears the factions and Israel are engaged in another type of war. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza on Oct. 9 posted two audio recordings on its website in connection with accusing Israel of using new tools — an apparent reference to a disinformation and intelligence-gathering campaign waged through social media — to entice or entrap residents into collaborating through espionage and assisting in targeting faction leaders for assassination.

In an Oct. 13 statement, Interior Ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bazm said that Israeli intelligence has doubled its efforts in the past two years to recruit agents in Gaza. The campaign is said to involve phoning people under the guise of being members from medical and charitable institutions, sporting associations and students aid centers. The Interior Ministry claims that one of the recordings it released is a phone call to a Gaza resident by an Israeli intelligence officer who pretended to be from a charity association. The alleged true purpose of the call was to drag him into collecting information on resistance members living nearby.

Collaborating with Israeli security agencies is considered to be treason and punishable under the law. Security fears and arrest campaigns increased in Gaza after a covert Israeli operation last November involving unit operatives dressed as Palestinians crossing the border east of Khan Yunis in a civilian vehicle. An Israeli officer, six Hamas members and a member of the Popular Resistance Committees were killed in the ensuing clash. According to Palestinians, the target of the operation was Nur Barakeh, a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, who was killed in the fighting. Others speculate, however, that the episode was an intelligence-gathering operation gone wrong.

The Palestinian factions have joined the Interior Ministry in the current awareness campaign. The armed factions joint operation room had issued a statement on Oct. 8 emphasizing that Israel is using what they referred to as “new intelligence means” to track the moves and news of the factions due to the Gaza security services having identified a large number of collaborators. The statement read, “We follow up on the enemy’s intelligence and COGAT tools [i.e., its social media page] to collect data on the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip and as a means of character assassination of combatants.” COGAT is Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli military unit that overseas civilian policy in the West Bank and Gaza.