Thread by @sfrantzman

THREAD: Can someone explain how this supposed Israeli "deception" using media worked to lure Hamas into tunnels?

Here's what we know, and the QUESTIONS it raises about timing and Hamas intel and what did/did not happen.

jpost.com/israel-news/id…

This is now becoming controversial because of allegations the IDF spokespeople misled foreign journalists (they didn't provide the same info to local journalists);

https://twitter.com/BowenBBC/status/1393474025662332936?s=20

Prior to the evening's controversy, Israel had called up 9,000 more reservists "units from three brigades are readying plans for a ground incursion, pending approval by Israel's political leaders"...a ground attack plan was put in place, theguardian.com/world/2021/may…

Let's go back to that night. At around 12:03am May 14 first reports of massive IDF strikes on Gaza, this was considered a major escalation by those near and in Gaza, many people fled inside the Gaza Strip.

https://twitter.com/ignis_fatum/status/1392949017307455491

Around 12:22am the IDF released this ambiguous tweet that made it seem a ground incursion was underway.

At 12:42 @TreyYingst notes that "Israel is attacking Gaza from the ground and air. This is NOT a full-scale ground operation."

https://twitter.com/TreyYingst/status/1392958398480715777?s=20

At 12:45am border communities were told to shelter in place as the operation unfolded apparently via @manniefabian

By 1:20am journalists said they had received word from the IDF that troops "Troops on Ground"

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1392967938534215680?s=20

Between 1:46am and 1:56am Israeli sources said no such operation was taking place ; via @AmichaiStein1

https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1392977131311927298?s=20

At 1:58am @ignis_fatum noted that Israeli and Palestinian media both were saying the opposite, and he wondered if foreign media were misquoting via @ignis_fatum

https://twitter.com/ignis_fatum/status/1392977653519552512

The confusion continued through 2am Israel time. See for instance @Joyce_Karam series of tweets looking at the issue

By 7 am in the morning the IDF was beginning to release details of the large operation;

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1393082846324088833?s=20

But the story of the "deception" lacks clarity because reports say the massive operation began around 11:30pm on May 13 which was prior to the supposed misinformation going out about the "ground attack" beginning...

So what happened, "According to reports, due to the deployment along the border and the news coming out in the foreign media of a ground incursion, Hamas and Islamic Jihad sent their first-line of defense into the tunnels to start taking up positions," @yaakovkatz wrote.

But the timing doesn't make sense. The massive strikes began before the foreign media reports about the "ground attack"...how can you carry out an attack prior to the ruse being fed to the media?

We still don't know how many Hamas members were supposedly killed. We do know that some media feel they were taken advantage of. However, something else doesn't make sense. Why would Hamas, with its own intel on the ground near the border, rely on foreign media for information.

Hamas knows the ground, many of the commanders have grown up their whole life fighting Israel, in 2009, 2012, 2014, they know Israel's methods. Why would they be so easily deceived? Didn't their local commanders tell them "there is no ground assault, we are under air attack."

It's not the first time there was a ruse, in 2019 face casualties were "evacuated" during a Hezbollah attack, apnews.com/article/hezbol…

Now Israel is accused of using media to trick Hamas. The question remains whether Hamas was tricked, why it was tricked, and even IF it was tricked, given the timeline above; arabnews.com/node/1858916/m…

Again. I want to reiterate...Hamas commanders might read foreign media...but even if they did, wouldn't they consult with each other before sending hundreds of men to the front. It's not a stupid organization. It has planned this recent escalation carefully and set the tempo.

I want to add one last thing, I was told at 12:45 am that there were no Israeli ground forces inside Gaza and I confirmed this and tweeted it around 1:58am. So many people tweeted the opposite. Hamas could have read those tweets too from many serious journalists.