Files show how Hamas spied on everyday Palestinians
Secret police unit said to surveil behavior, dissent
JERUSALEM — Hamas leader Yehia Sinwar has for years overseen a secret police force in the Gaza Strip that conducted surveillance on everyday palestinians and built files on young people, journalists, and those who questioned the government, according to intelligence officials and a trove of internal documents reviewed by the New York times.
The unit, known as the General Security Service, relied on a network of Gaza informants, some of whom reported their own neighbors to police. people landed in security files for attending protests or publicly criticizing hamas. in some cases, the records suggest that authorities followed people to determine if they were carrying on romantic relationships outside marriage.
Hamas has long run an oppressive system of governance in Gaza, and many palestinians there know that security officials watch them closely. but a 62-slide presentation on the activities of the service, delivered only weeks before the oct. 7 attack on israel, reveals the degree to which the largely unknown unit penetrated the lives of palestinians.
The documents show that hamas leaders, despite claiming to represent the people of Gaza, would not tolerate even a whiff of dissent. Security officials trailed journalists and people they suspected of immoral behavior. Agents got criticism removed from social media and discussed ways to defame political adversaries. political protests were viewed as threats to be undermined.
Everyday residents of Gaza were stuck — behind the wall of israel’s crippling blockade and under the thumb and constant watch of a security force. that dilemma continues today, with the added threat of israeli ground troops and airstrikes.
“We’re facing bombardment by the occupation and thuggery by the local authorities,” Ehab fasfous, a journalist in Gaza who appeared in the files of the security service, said in a phone interview from Gaza.
Fasfous, 51, is labeled in one report as among “the major haters of the hamas movement.”
The documents were provided to the times by officials in israel’s military intelligence directorate, who said they had been seized in raids in Gaza.
Reporters then interviewed people who were named in the files. those people recounted key events, confirmed biographical information and, in fasfous’s case, described interactions with authorities that aligned with the secret files. the documents reviewed by the times include seven intelligence files ranging from october 2016 to August 2023. the military intelligence directorate said it was aware of files containing information on at least 10,000 palestinians in Gaza.
The service is formally part of the hamas political party but functions like part of the government.
One Palestinian individual familiar with the inner workings of hamas, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed that the service was one of three powerful internal security bodies in Gaza. the others were military intelligence, which typically focuses on israel, and the internal Security Service, an arm of the interior ministry.
Basem Naim, a spokesperson for hamas, said the people responsible for the service were unreachable during the war.
With monthly expenses of $120,000 before the war with israel, the unit comprised 856 people, records show.
Of those, more than 160 were paid to spread hamas propaganda and launch online attacks against opponents at home and abroad. the status of the unit today is unknown because israel has dealt a significant blow to hamas’ military and governing abilities.