Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar monitored the daily lives of Palestinians and created files on young people, journalists and others who questioned the government, according to a trove of internal documents reviewed by intelligence officials and The New newspaper. For many years he oversaw Gaza’s secret police. York Times.
The force, known as the General Security Agency, relied on a network of informants in Gaza, some of whom reported their neighbors to the police. People who took part in protests or publicly criticized Hamas were placed in security files. In some cases, records suggest that authorities were tracking people to see if they continued romantic relationships beyond marriage.
Hamas has long operated a repressive system of governance in the Gaza Strip, and many Palestinians there know that security services closely monitor Hamas. But 62 slides about the General Security Agency’s activities, released weeks before the October 7 Israeli attack, reveal the extent to which the little-known force has penetrated Palestinian life. There is.
The documents show that although Hamas leaders claim to represent the Gaza population, they will not tolerate even the slightest dissent. Security officials tailed journalists and others suspected of immoral acts. Agents discussed ways to remove criticism from social media and smear political opponents. Political protests were seen as a threat that had to be undermined.
Gazans were constantly stranded behind Israel’s crippling blockade wall, under surveillance by security forces every day. This dilemma continues today, with the added threat of Israeli ground forces and air strikes.
“We are facing shelling by occupation forces and assaults by local authorities,” Ehab Fassfas, a Gaza journalist who appeared in the General Security Directorate file, said in a telephone interview from Gaza.
Fassfus, 51, has been described in one report as one of the “main detractors of the Hamas movement.”
The document was provided to the Times by an official from Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence, who said it was seized in a raid in Gaza.
Reporters then interviewed those named in the file. Those people recounted key events, confirmed biographical information and, in Mr. Fassfus’ case, described interactions with authorities that matched secret files. The documents reviewed by the Times include seven intelligence files from October 2016 to August 2023. The Directorate General of Military Intelligence said it was aware of a file containing information on at least 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
Although officially part of the Hamas political party, the General Security Directorate functions like part of the government. A Palestinian familiar with Hamas, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed that the group is one of Gaza’s three powerful internal security institutions. The rest were the Military Intelligence Directorate, which usually focuses on Israel, and the Internal Security Service, a division of the Interior Ministry.
Hamas spokesman Bassem Naim said he had been unable to contact the head of the General Security Directorate during the war.
Records show that before the war with Israel, monthly expenditures were $120,000 and the unit consisted of 856 men. More than 160 of them were paid to spread Hamas propaganda and launch online attacks against domestic and foreign adversaries. The status of the force today is unclear, as Israel has dealt a significant blow to Hamas’ military and governance capabilities.
Three Israeli intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Israeli intelligence believes that Mr. Sinwar directly supervised the General Security Directorate. They said the slideshow was prepared for Mr. Shinwar personally, but did not say how they learned of it.
The presentation said the General Security Directorate works to protect Hamas’ people, property and information and to support leadership decision-making.
Some slides focused on the personal safety of Hamas leaders. Some discussed ways to quell protests, such as last year’s “We Want to Live” demonstrations that criticized power shortages and the cost of living. Security officials also pursued operatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an ideologically aligned armed group often affiliated with Hamas.
Some tactics appeared to be routine political activity, such as amplifying Hamas’ own message. In other instances, officials suggested using intelligence to undermine opponents and distort their reputations, but the files were vague about how.
“We conduct numerous offensive and defensive media campaigns to confuse and influence our adversaries using nonpublic and proprietary information,” the document said.
According to the report, security officials stopped Fassfas on his way to a protest last August, confiscated his mobile phone and ordered him to leave. Mr Fassfus confirmed that two plainclothes police officers approached him. Authorities looked into his recent phone calls and wrote that he was communicating with “suspicious people” in Israel.
“We advise that it is necessary to approach him, as he is a hateful and negative person who only brings out the shortcomings of the strip,” the document said.
Fassfus said the most frustrating part was that the officers used his cell phone to send flirtatious messages to colleagues. “They wanted to impose a moral violation on me,” he said.
The report does not include those details, but it does describe how to “deal with” Fafas. “It defames him,” the report said.
“If you don’t stay with them, you become an atheist, an infidel and a sinner,” Fassfus said. He acknowledged supporting protests and criticizing Hamas online, but said his contacts in Israel were Palestinians who run food and clothing companies. He said he helped run their social media accounts.
The goals of the General Security Directorate are similar to those of security services in countries like Syria, which have used covert forces to suppress opposition. However, the General Security Bureau file mentions tactics such as censorship, intimidation, and surveillance, rather than physical violence.
“This General Security Service is really like the Stasi in East Germany,” said Michael Milstein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer specializing in Palestinian issues. “You’re looking out as usual.”
Analysts say Palestinians in Gaza live in fear and are afraid to voice their dissent.
“There are a lot of people who are self-censoring,” said Mukhaimal Abusada, a political science professor in Gaza City. “They just don’t want any problems with the Hamas government.”
This view clashes with some of the harshest comments from Israeli leaders, such as President Isaac Herzog, who accused Gazans of failing to defeat Hamas before the October 7 attack.
“The entire nation is responsible,” he said. “This rhetoric that the civilians weren’t aware, weren’t involved is absolutely not true. They could have stood up.”
According to the files, the General Security Bureau also sought to enforce a conservative social order.
For example, in December 2017, authorities investigated information that a woman was engaging in immoral behavior with a man who owned a clothing store. She visited the store for an hour one day and more than two hours the next day, according to a security report. The report showed no evidence of wrongdoing, but suggested that “stakeholders” address the issue.
An October 2016 report described young men and women engaging in unspecified “immoral acts” at the Palestine Liberation Organization’s offices in Khan Younis at night. Hamas views the Palestine Liberation Organization as a compromised organization, whose leaders too often prioritize Israeli interests. The report showed no evidence of wrongdoing, but recommended that the man who claimed to be in possession of the videos and photographs be summoned.
The files also show that Hamas was suspicious of foreign organizations and journalists.
When Dutch journalist Monique van Hoogstraten visited a protest encampment along the border with Israel in April 2018, authorities focused on the most mundane details. They recorded the make and model of her car, as well as the license plate number. They said they took photos of the children and tried to interview the elderly woman. Van Hoogstraten confirmed her reporting trip in an interview with the Times.
The file recommended further “reconnaissance” against journalists.
None of the files examined by the Times dated after the start of the war. But Fassfas said the government remained interested in him.
Early in the war, he said, he captured footage of security forces beating people fighting over space in a line outside a bakery. Authorities confiscated his camera.
Fassfas complained to government officials in Khan Younis, who told him to stop reporting and “destabilizing the domestic front,” Fassfas recalled.
“I told him that I was reporting the truth and the truth would not hurt him, but he didn’t listen,” he said. “We cannot live here as long as criminals continue to rule.”
