How Israel used a tweet to lure militants to their doom in terror tunnels
A misleading statement tweeted by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday n꧅ight appears to have been a decoy intended to lure Hamas troops into strategic tunnels that were later bombarded by the Israeli army.
The IDF tweet gave the impression that troops had entered Gaza, leading global media outlets to report about a ground incursion, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad, seeing those reports, sent their first line of defense into the tunnels to start taking up position✤s, .
“IDF air and ground trꦇoops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip,” the tweet in English read, leading many outlets to believe ground troops were operating in the enclave.
In Hebrew, the tweet also was unclear but more specific — announcing heavy strikes on Gaza in which ground forces launched artillery barrages but not a troop entrance, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The military began massing ground forces along the border at about 9 p.m. Thursday, including armored🦂 and infantry units, and earlier in the day, the IDF said a ground offensive was a viable option for the next phase of Operation Guardians of the Wall.
“We have started to prepare infantry and armored units for ground operations,” ܫspokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told the New York Post on Thursday as the IDF struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets from the air.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also hinted at an esꦉcalation by saying Thursday that the campaign against Hamas was far from over and that more action was imminent.
When the IDF fired off its tweet, major media outlets jumped all over it, assuming it meant that Israel was sending ground forces into the enclave in a major escalatioܫn.
“Israeli troops have entered the Gaza Strip as conflict with Palestinians escalates, Israeli military says,” the Washington Post said in 💞a tweet shortly after th🥃e IDF posted its tweet.
But what was actually happening, according to the Jerusalem Post, was in the air — with 160 jets unleashing a massive bombardment of tunnels that the IDF dubbed Hamas’ “Metro,” where they store weapons and equipment.
Netanyahu said at the end of a situation assessment at military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday that Hamas will continue to pay aꦇ heavy price.
“I said we would strike Hamas and other terror groups very hard – and we’re doing that,” he said. “In the past 24 hours, we struck underground targets; Hamas thinks they can hide there, and they cannot hide there.
He also tweeted video of an aerial bombardment, writing in Hebrew that the IDF is “cont💦inuing in full force. Full of pride in o🍸ur fighters. Well done, IDF. Shabbat shalom!”
The underground network had been built after the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip, also known as Ope༒ration Protective Edge.
Following the international media reports about an incursion, Hamas and Islamic Jihad sent militants armed with anti-tank missiles and mortars into the🌟 tunnels to prepare for a ground invasion that never came, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Once the༺y eme🍬rged from the tunnels, they were exposed to the swarm of Israeli jets that launched the massive attack, according to the newspaper, which noted that the number of terrorists killed was still unclear.
Several foreign correspondents told the Israeli Haaretz daily that the IDF Spokesperꦡson’s Unit told them on the record that a ground invasion had begun – only to later receive a retract༺ion and an apology for being led astray.
The spokesperson Israel time Friday to Israel-based correspondents informing them that gr🌄ound troops were inside Gaza, Haaretz reported.
A short time later, Israel began an aeriaꦜl attack on Gaza, dropping some🔜 450 bombs.
Journalists who called the IDF about a ground invasion were informed that troops were indeed in🌟side the territory, according to the outlet, which reported that some of these conversations took place more than an hour after the initial WhatsApp message was sent.
Israeli military reporters, surprised to learn about such a dramatic escalation from their foreign counterparts, quickly called their IDF soওurces, who told them that there was no ground incursion underway, Haaretz reported.
WhatsApp messages obtained by the paper show that the IDF explicitly ꦏtold the foreign media that there were forces in Gaza, casting doubt on the explanation that the mix-up was the result of a translation error.
On Friday morning, Conricus held a phone briefing with foreign correspondents and delivered a mea cul🤪pa for misleading them, saying it was an accident and attributing it to the fog of war.
Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, the IDF’s chief spokesman, also told Israel’s Kan Radio that there “could have been a mistake” in how the army described the situation to the foreign press, according to Haaretz.
But some of the reporters who spoke to Haaretz questioned that explanation, noting ဣthat it took the IDF over an hour, and in some ꧑cases two hours, to send them a clarification.
Wall Street Journal correspondent Felicia Schwartz “told me directly, ‘there are ground troops in Gaza. That was the basis for a first story saying so. He♏ retracted that statement two hours later and I changed the story to reflect that, and t♊hat is noted in the text and will be corrected.”
🐻The troops, tanks and cannons were near the border, but on the Israeli side, .
Conricus has taken responsibility for the tweet, but confirmed that g🃏round troops had taken part in an operation carried🦹 out from Israeli territory.
🅘“There are no … ground troops inside ♋Gaza at the moment,” he said Thursday.
The IDF’s chief s✨pokesperson, Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, said the military is investigating what led to the misunderstanding.
Another US journalist in Israel told Haaretz that the incident “will not help” the country’s relationship with international media.
“It looks awfully transparent, the idea that they misled people only in English, that Conricus personally said it was so, without any caveats or promises to check, and the timing right before a big attack on the tunnels,” the reporter told the outlet.
“I don’t know how they regain the credibility this costs them,” the journalist added. “On the other hand, they may figure that foreign press is so dependent on them, what does it matter?”
With Post wires
