The IDF has in recent days dropped leaflets throughout the Gaza Strip, designed as newspapers featuring "articles" highlighting Hamas's mistreatment of civilians in the territory, in an apparent attempt to drive a wedge between the terrorist group and the local population.
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The Arabic-language leaflets, titled “The Reality,” warn Gazans, "Be careful, in this newspaper you will read the truth."
They included, among others, a piece on an interview senior Hamas figure Musa Abu Marzouk gave to the RT network in Arabic in late October in which he stated that the elaborate subterranean tunnel system the group constructed under Gaza was meant to protect its fighters - and not the residents of the Strip. "It is the responsibility of the UN to protect them," he said.
The last page of the newspaper reads, "You are still silent. Wake up, the future is in your hands."
This comes on the heels of recent footage showing hundreds of desperate Gazan civilians publicly protesting against Hamas and pushing the organization to agree to a deal for the release of Israeli hostages.
Displaced Gazan masses call for downfall of Hamas
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit )
The IDF liaison to the Palestinians, Major General Ghassan Alian, posted the footage to Facebook last week, writing "In recent days, we are witnessing more and more public criticism by Gaza residents against the terrorist organization Hamas. The people of the Strip rightly prefer their welfare and the security of their children over the continued military buildup of Hamas and its terrorist activities that harm them and their future."
Another video posted online late last month by IDF Arabic Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee depicted a rare protest against Hamas near the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, in which Gazan civilians were seen holding up signs calling for the release of the Israeli hostages and the end of the war.
"Hamas-ISIS leaders, led by Sinwar, listen to the cries of your people, your children and your wives expressing their anger over the situation you caused in Gaza," he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) to which the video was attached.
"They demand you return the Israeli hostages to end the war so they can return home. Will these cries and demands reach the hideouts of Hamas leaders?"
Since Hamas's surprise attack on October 7, the IDF has been extensively distributing leaflets throughout the Gaza Strip. Some of these leaflets instruct residents of specific areas where Israeli forces are operating to evacuate their homes toward designated humanitarian zones in southern Gaza.
Others call on Gazans to surrender Hamas operatives or provide information on the whereabouts of Israeli hostages still held within the territory.