Hamas: Israelis aimed to plant spy gear

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement said Saturday that during a botched mission in November, Israeli undercover forces attempted to install equipment to monitor the Islamic militant group’s landline communications network.

The findings of a lengthy investigation were announced by the Hamas military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, in a pre-recorded TV statement.

Hamas presented surveillance footage, as well as photos of drills, chain saws and two pistols with silencers, to back up its claims.

Hamas thwarted an attempt to “plant spying devices in the Gaza Strip,” a Qassam spokesman, identified only as Abu Obeida, said in the statement.

Israel’s military has not released details about the operation that went awry Nov. 11, leading to the heaviest round of cross-border fire, including Hamas rockets and Israeli airstrikes, since a 2014 war between the two sides.

Abu Obeida said Israel took equipment and vehicles into Gaza through a commercial crossing point between January and October. Fifteen members of the unit entered Gaza on a foggy night through the perimeter fence a few days before Nov. 11, the spokesman said.

A woman working with the Israeli unit entered Gaza several times, disguised as an employee of a humanitarian organization, the spokesman said. Members of the unit used forged IDs of Gazans and the documents of a charity group, he added.

On Nov. 11, the unit was detected by Hamas fighters as it drove near the town of Abassan in southern Gaza. The discovery sparked a firefight, in which a member of the undercover unit and two Hamas gunmen, including a local commander, were killed. Five other militants were killed in airstrikes as Israeli aircraft provided cover to airlift the force, including the dead officer.