19-year-old Gazan gave information crucial to Deif assassination — report

Editor’s Note: This report was based on a Jewish Chronicle story by writer Elon Perry. On September 13, 2024 the Chronicle removed Perry’s stories and ended its association with him after serious doubts emerged regarding the veracity of his reporting. This page is being kept online for purposes of transparency.

A 19-year-old Gazan “messenger” passed information to Israeli handlers that led to the successful assassination of Hamas military commander Muhammad Deif, The Jewish Chronicle reports.

According to the report, Israel uses thousands of informants in Gaza to gain information needed to locate and eliminate senior Hamas officials and terror infrastructure.

The report says handlers meet with their informants in kibbutzim near the Gaza border and only communicate by phone in exceptional circumstances.

Such circumstances include needing to inform on the location of a senior Hamas official when he visits a location for at least an hour or two, or on the location of hostages when it is understood they would be moved on the same day, The Jewish Chronicle reports.

In these phone calls, the number of an Arab Israeli is called, and the handler pretends to be a relative of the Gazan interested in what is happening in the enclave, the report says.

The man who gave information on Deif did so in exchange for asylum in the United States. According to the report, he is no longer in Gaza.