JNS
An IDF ruse turned Hamas’s tunnels into death traps
by Yaakov Lappin
May 14, 2021

Shortly after midnight, the Israel Defense Spokesperson Unit sent a vague message: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip. More details to follow.” It was unclear whether the message was referring to the start of a ground offensive against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or whether ground units were firing on targets on Gaza. Initial reports of a potential Israeli ground offensive immediately began to circulate. “Now, it turns out this was not a mistake, but deliberate and planned ruse aimed at taking out Hamas forces,” Channel 22 said on Friday. The IDF reportedly led Hamas to believe that a ground offensive was about to begin, leading it to activate its elite Nukhba unit, sending them into tunnels to prepare to take on Israeli ground forces. READ MORE

NEW YORK POST 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 night 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 positions, the Jerusalem Post reported.