In a First, Israel Presents Gaza Airstrike as Retaliation for Cyberattack

Claims building destroyed housed Hamas cyber forces

Nations have repeatedly threatened to treat cyberattacks the same as military attacks, and respond in kind, but the first confirmed example of this appears to have happened over the weekend, when Israel was pounding buildings across the Gaza Strip.

One of the buildings destroyed by Israeli forces was claimed by officials to be the the headquarters of Hamas cyber forces in Gaza, and they said the airstrike was a direct response to cyberattacks that were ongoing during the weekend flareup.

Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Mantis said that Israel had foiled the cyberattacks before destroying the building, and that they believe that following the strike, Hamas has “no cyber operational capabilities.”

Analysts expressed concern about the idea of “bomb-back” responses to cyberattacks becoming the norm, saying that in particular the case Israel gives, where they’d already foiled the attack, they didn’t see much point in such a strike.

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.