Shin Bet accused of offering Gaza targets a choice: family or solo strike

Israel’s Shin Bet security service is facing new accusations regarding a specific tactic used against targets in Gaza. According to a report by the London-based outlet Asharq Al-Awsat, officers allegedly called targets to present them with a binary choice: allow a strike on a building containing their families, or go to a designated spot to be killed alone.

The report relies on interviews with several Gazan men identified as activists from various Palestinian factions, along with their relatives. The account details the most recent alleged incident, which occurred on Wednesday afternoon in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Muhammad Al-Bayouk was reportedly on the roof of a shelter for displaced people when a Shin Bet officer called him. The officer gave Al-Bayouk the option to let the drone strike the shelter with his family inside or move to a specific location to be targeted individually. Al-Bayouk chose the latter and was killed by a small projectile.

A source cited by Asharq Al-Awsat stated that these specific calls were directed at activists with connections to military action. This approach is described as distinct from how senior field leaders are handled. The report claims that prominent leaders are usually killed via missiles and suicide drones, methods that often result in higher civilian casualties.

The IDF and Shin Bet have not commented on the specific allegations. The military frequently announces the killing of high-profile terror targets using Shin Bet intelligence. A recent example is the strike that killed Ihab Jamil Abu Taqiya, a Hamas squad commander. Abu Taqiya was involved in holding hostages, including former captives Noa Argamani, Emily Hand, and Ohad Ben Ami.

While the security establishment has not publicly admitted to using this phone-call method for lower-profile targets, the Jerusalem Post understands that similar operations have occurred in the past. However, the specific instances mentioned in the Asharq Al-Awsat report could not be independently confirmed.

In a related development, the IDF announced on Monday that it killed four Islamic Jihad operatives in a series of targeted strikes in Khan Younis. The military reported that airstrikes on October 25 across northern, southern, and central Gaza resulted in the deaths of three operatives. The victims were Alaa Abu Zaid and Hamdan Suleiman Ibrahim Abu Amra, both members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, and Fawzi Salam Odat Allah Sawarha, a Hamas sniper accused of directing fire at IDF troops.