Documents seized from Gaza indicate that this secret force, which is called the General Security Service, targeted journalists, young people, and others who questioned the Hamas government in Gaza.
Anyone who attended a protest against a Hamas official or any aspect of Hamas's rule, as well as anyone who publically criticized Hamas, was investigated by the General Security Service.
The secret force was used to quash any and all dissent in Gaza, the Times reported. Journalists were often followed, criticism of Hamas was removed from social media, and all efforts were made to suppress anti-Hamas protests.
The General Security Service created files on at least 10,000 people in Gaza from 2016-2023.
The secret force consisted of 856 people and had a monthly budget of $120,000.
One Gaza journalist who was targeted said that he had his phone seized and searched while on his way to a protest. According to the journalist, the officers wrote messages of a flirtatious nature to a female journalist on his phone to plant evidence of immoral behavior against him.
Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, compared the Gaza General Security Service to the East German Stasi secret police organization.