Hamas Fears Israel Is Operating a Secret Base Inside Gaza

Botched raid has Hamas hunting for 'collaborators'

On November 11, Israeli special forces conducted a botched raid in the Gaza Strip. This resulted in a shootout, which itself led to Israel and Hamas exchanging fire the following day, nearly escalating into a full war.

That raid, and investigations into it, continue to inform Hamas about the situation in the Gaza Strip, however, and they have concluded that there are likely Israeli special forces operating out of a secret base inside the strip to facilitate such attacks.

The suspicion is that Israel’s forces crossed in at the official crossing, which has Hamas looking in the area immediately around that crossing for special forces, collaborators, and anything else suspicious. This has meant checkpoints, random searches, and the arrests of suspects.

Hamas has released photographs of several men and women they suspect of being part of an Israeli military unit, urging locals to provide any details they have about them. Israel has not commented on the matter, leaving it unclear if Hamas is looking for something that they might be able to find.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.