by Ilana Messika The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says Hamas has been bullying Gaza residents into assisting with terrorist activities.
According to the COGAT Spokesperson, the unit documented two Hamas activists who repeatedly exploited Gazans passing through the Erez Crossing on the Israel-Gaza border on their way into Israel.
In principle, the Erez crossing is closed to Arabs from the Palestinian Authority except in exceptional circumstances such as humanitarian cases, students with special cases, sports people and merchants.
The COGAT Arabic Facebook page posted a video showing Ibrahim Aref Mohammed Adwan and Muhammad Ismail Ali Salem coercing sick people and traders into transferring information, equipment and money to Hamas prisoners and terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.
The matter was transferred to the Arab Affairs Department of the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency) for further investigation.