Hamas operated like the Stasi running an internal security service that employed a network of informants and retained surveillance records for some 10,000 people, The New York Times reported on Monday.
The force, under the leadership of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, worked to quash any voices of opposition, the paper said quoting Israeli intelligence officials.
According to documents uncovered by the IDF during the war, the General Security Service GSS opened files on people who participated in demonstrations against the Hamas rulers and in some cases even surveilled people to determine if they were having extra marital affairs.
The paper reported that its correspondents were shown a presentation of 62 slides, prepared for Sinwar, according to the intelligence officials, that detailed the workings of the force, which showed how far it had penetrated into the lives of Gazan civilians. The GSS followed journalists including from foreign outlets, anyone thought to be behaving in an immoral fashion and any participants of protests such as the demonstrations against the high cost of living in 2019. They considered any political dissent as a threat to the Hamas rule.
The Times viewed documents that include seven intelligence files ranging from October 2016 to August 2023.
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A member of the Hamas security forces shooting at protesters during a 2019 demonstration in Gaza
“This General Security Service is just like the Stasi of East Germany,” Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer specializing in Palestinian affairs told The Times. “You always have an eye on the street.”