The Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out multiple strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday night, including the destruction of the office of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, in response to rockets launched by the terror group at the center of the country.
One of the buildings hit by the IAF was the Al-Multazem insurance and investment company’s headquarters. The IDF said the building was targeted because it served Hamas’ intelligence apparatus.
The building had previously been hit by the IAF in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge.
The Al-Multazem company specializes in the development of technologies, including cyber and information technologies, according to TPS.
The three-story building was heavily damaged. Gazan sources told TPS that a warning rocket with a small payload was fired at the building in the “knock on roof” technique used to warn occupants to leave prior to an attack.
Then another, massive missile was fired at the building 10 minutes later, essentially demolishing it.
The company was established in 2008 after the Gaza Strip came under Hamas’ rule, and has six branches throughout the Strip. The company enables interest-free investments, as prescribed by Islamic Sharia law.
The company works in collaboration with a technological college in Gaza and with the Islamic University, primarily in the development of cyber capabilities. Some of the company’s directors served in senior positions in the Islamic University.
Hamas uses cyber technology to spy on the IDF and on its soldiers, and carries out cyber attacks on Israeli targets on a daily basis.
The IDF in July 2018 announced that it had exposed a Hamas plot to spy on soldiers by enticing them to download a dating app which was, in fact, a malicious program that gave the terrorists full access to their phones.
The IDF’s Information Security Department revealed Hamas’ scheme in which cyber terrorists operated with stolen identities in order to talk to troops, get their personal information, retrieve sensitive security information, and download an application that turned cell phones into tools for collecting intelligence.