Israel and Hamas wage online war of words

JERUSALEM

AP Photo

Social media became a weapon of war yesterday as Israel and Hamas used sites like Twitter and Facebook in the wake of an Israeli raid on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli army’s Twitter account @IDFSpokesperson has pushed out multiple updates on the operation using the hashtags #IsraelUnderFire or #PillarOfDefense. The Israeli military also ran a live blog of the attack. It also has a regularly updated account on microblogging platform Tumblr.
Israel announced its attack on Hamas on Nov. 14 on Twitter first.

Israeli army posted a picture of Hamas commander Ahmed al-Jaabari, killed in a recent Israeli attack, on a red background with the word “Eliminated” across it, alongside a description of several crimes of which Israel accused him. It also linked to a video of the air strike which killed al-Jaabari.

It has also used Twitter to send a warning to Hamas.

“We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead,” read one of its posts.

Hamas’s military arm, the al-Qassam Brigades, immediately responded, addressing the Israeli army directly. “Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves),” it wrote via its Twitter account @AlqassamBrigade.

Hamas is also using this Twitter account to push out news of its activities and post disturbing photos of alleged child victims.