[News] Forged Hamas documents leaked to shape public opinion, report says

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/forged-hamas-documents-leaked-shape-public-opinion>
Forged Hamas documents leaked to shape public opinion, report says
By MEE staff
September 9, 2024
------------------------------

Jewish Chronicle and Bild reports appear to have been an attempt to sway
opinions on Israel's continued occupation of Philadelphi Corridor, says
Yedioth Ahronoth
[image: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points at the
Philadelphi Corridor on a map during a press conference at the Government
Press Office in Jerusalem on 4 September 2024 (AFP)]

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points at the Philadelphi
Corridor on a map during a press conference at the Government Press Office
in Jerusalem on 4 September 2024 (AFP)

Published date: 9 September 2024 14:05 BST | Last update: 2 hours 52 mins ago


Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth reports that leaked Hamas documents that
purported to show plans to smuggle Israeli captives out of Gaza were forged.

Speaking to military officials, the Israeli outlet says the documents were
leaked in an attempt to influence public opinion and present a view that
Hamas and its leader, Yahya Sinwar, were uninterested in a ceasefire deal
and attempting to pin the failure to reach an agreement on Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The documents were used by the UK's Jewish Chronicle
<https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/three-idf-soldiers-fall-ill-after-eating-donated-cookies-containing-marijuana-mkibtefp>
and Germany's Bild.

The Jewish Chronicle claimed that documents seized by the Israeli army in
Gaza on 29 August revealed a plan to smuggle captives from Gaza to Egypt
across the Philadelphi corridor buffer zone, and then to Iran.

Sinwar, who the Jewish Chronicle said was behind the plan, was also alleged
to be planning his escape.

Yedioth Ahronoth said that Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate was
not aware of the document used by the Jewish Chronicle.

“Neither the document, nor the narrative attributed to Sinwar, who suddenly
decided to escape, are known to anyone in Israel,” Yedioth Ahronoth wrote,
quoting military sources.

Bild reported on a document that was an alleged proposal from a mid-ranking
Hamas official.

Yedioth Ahronoth says that while the document exists, Bild used an alleged
quote from it that purports to show Hamas' lack of interest in a deal with
Israel - remarks that do not exist.

The two reports come after Netanyahu held English and Hebrew news
conferences last week in which he insisted that Israel would not withdraw
from the Philadelphi Corridor - a demilitarised zone on Gaza's border with
Egypt - claiming it would allow Hamas to sneak captives out of Gaza.

Yedioth Ahronoth says these fake and forged documents caused "great concern
and anger in the security establishment, and it is assumed that it will
heighten the tensions between them and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and his men".
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