Israeli intelligence officers have reportedly been calling Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip and warning them that they must leave their families before being targeted in airstrikes or risk having their relatives killed alongside them, according to an investigation published Thursday by the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
The newspaper reported that at least five such incidents have occurred over the past three months, citing Palestinian field sources familiar with the cases. The accounts, which could not be independently verified, suggest Israeli forces have used advance telephone warnings to isolate suspected terrorists before carrying out targeted killings.
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Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday
(Photo: AP)
The latest reported incident occurred Wednesday afternoon in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, where a Palestinian man identified as Muhammad al-Bayouk was killed in an Israeli drone strike after allegedly receiving a telephone call from an officer of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency.
According to Asharq Al-Awsat, the officer presented al-Bayouk with a choice: remain with his family and risk their deaths in an airstrike or go alone to the roof of a building at a shelter for displaced Palestinians, where he would be targeted.
Al-Bayouk reportedly chose to leave his relatives and climbed onto the roof of a room inside the shelter, where he was struck by a small missile fired from an Israeli drone.
Several members of the al-Bayouk family declined to comment when approached by the newspaper. Others confirmed the account, including a cousin who was present at the scene.
The relative said another family member, al-Bayouk's aunt, was seriously injured while attempting to stop him from leaving after receiving the alleged warning call.
The report did not establish al-Bayouk's organizational affiliation or describe the intelligence underlying Israel's decision to target him.
At least five reported cases in three months
Palestinian field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that similar incidents have occurred repeatedly in recent months, although they cautioned that some claims circulating locally had exaggerated their frequency.
One source said initial rumors suggested the practice was widespread, but subsequent security reviews identified at least five cases over the preceding three months.
Palestinians weep in front of a body at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday
(Photo: AP)
According to the source, individuals receiving such calls from Israeli intelligence officers felt compelled to comply with the instructions because they feared their families would otherwise be killed.
The source accused Israel of using the threat of harm to relatives to pressure targeted individuals into exposing themselves to military strikes.
He also drew parallels with allegations that Israeli interrogators had threatened Palestinian detainees with harm to their relatives if they refused to provide intelligence.
In some cases, the source alleged, detainees were shown photographs of dead family members as a means of psychological pressure.
Those allegations were not independently substantiated in the report.
The source said all the documented telephone-warning cases involved individuals with connections to terrorist activity.
By contrast, he claimed, Israel has continued to target senior commanders and prominent field operatives through larger strikes involving multiple missiles and attack drones, including attacks that have caused civilian casualties.
Palestinian sources reject suggestion of a more restrained approach
Sources interviewed by Asharq Al-Awsat rejected the suggestion that advance warnings reflected a broader effort by Israel to protect Palestinian civilians.
They argued that the practice should not be interpreted as evidence that Israeli forces had adopted a more humanitarian approach or were attempting to improve Israel's international image.
Palestinians walk near the wreckage of destroyed buildings in Gaza City
(Photo: AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
The sources pointed to continued Israeli strikes that they said had killed civilians, including women and children.
Nevertheless, the newspaper suggested that the reported use of smaller precision weapons and attempts to separate terrorists from their families could reflect an Israeli effort to reduce civilian casualties amid sustained international criticism.
The report also cited a September article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz describing an understanding between Washington and Jerusalem over the use of force in Gaza.
According to that account, the Trump administration has generally refrained from intervening in Israeli military operations except in exceptional circumstances, while President Donald Trump has not demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broadly restrain Israeli forces in the territory.
The Haaretz report said American attention had focused particularly on civilian casualties, which had declined relatively as Israeli forces increasingly used drones armed with smaller bombs and missiles to target Hamas operatives.
A Palestinian field source disputed that assessment, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that civilians continued to be killed in strikes targeting terrorists and in what he described as indiscriminate shelling.
The source cited a strike Wednesday in southern Khan Younis that reportedly killed civilians, government employees and representatives of merchants.
According to the account, the strike hit a facility operated by government ministries responsible for monitoring the movement of goods entering the Gaza Strip.
The report did not provide an independently verified casualty toll for that incident.
Additional strikes reported across Gaza
The Asharq Al-Awsat report also described several Israeli military operations across the Gaza Strip amid continuing accusations of ceasefire violations.
Two Palestinians were reportedly killed in an Israeli strike targeting a vehicle in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza
(Photo: AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Another Palestinian sustained moderate injuries in a separate strike in the Safatawi area, west of the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The Palestinian Shehab News Agency reported that two bodies and several wounded people were brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following the Maghazi strike.
The agency characterized the attack as part of what it described as continuing Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Elsewhere, several Palestinians were reportedly wounded by gunfire and artillery shelling in different parts of the territory.
In eastern Gaza City, a helicopter fired a missile early Wednesday at an unoccupied apartment on Yafa Street that had previously been struck, according to the report. No injuries were reported in that incident.
Shehab also reported additional Israeli military activity across the Gaza Strip, including gunfire directed toward tents housing displaced Palestinians, artillery strikes, a drone attack on a residential apartment, bulldozing operations and gunfire from naval vessels.
The casualty reports and circumstances of the individual incidents could not be independently verified.
The report did not include an IDF or Shin Bet response to the allegations.