2012 Gaza War

Although the official English name of the operation is Pillar of Defense, the Hebrew name translates as Pillar of Cloud. This usage refers to the Pillar of Cloud in the Bible that protected the Israelites during the Exodus. The analogy is thus to the Israel Defense Forces, which shielded Israeli citizens from rocket attacks. Hamas labelled its actions as "Operation Stones of Shale" (Qur'an 105:4). ==Background==

In late December 2008, a series of escalations culminated in Israel launching aerial and naval attacks on Gaza and a few days later, a ground invasion. The conflict resulted in between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths (4 from friendly fire), with significant damage to infrastructure in Gaza. It ended with a unilateral ceasefire by Israel, followed by Hamas declaring a one-week ceasefire. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict in its current form dates to the split in the Palestinian Authority in 2006, which precipitated an armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah. By June 2007, Hamas] had taken over the Government in Gaza and ousted its rival Fatah. Following the takeover, Israel and Egypt largely sealed their border crossings with Gaza, making Gaza's economic and humanitarian position precarious. The International Committee of the Red Cross declared that Israel's blockade of Gaza constituted "collective punishment" and was a violation of international humanitarian law, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization report on Gaza also concluded that the blockade was illegal. A UN Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Inquiry described Israel's naval enforcement of the blockade as legal and appropriate. Israel withdrew its civilian and military personnel in 2005. Tensions between Israel and the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip continued as the two sides experienced periodic fighting, which saw a major escalation in late 2008. Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in three weeks of air and ground assaults. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the action was a response to repeated rocket and mortars fire into Israel starting in December 2008, rising to 2,378 attacks over an eleven-month period leading to the operation. In the aftermath of the operation, there was a significant reduction in rocket and mortar fire from Gaza into Israel. After the 2008–2009 escalation the two sides observed an informal and uneasy cease-fire, although rocket fire from Gaza never completely stopped and Israel conducted raids in Gaza. The IDF noted a steady increase in the number of rockets fired into southern Israel by militant groups in Gaza. By 2011, there were 680, and in 2012, 797 (through 13 November). Hamas demanded that Israel end the naval blockade of Gaza's coastline as a condition to end rocket fire. According to Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, the Israeli security forces killed 273 Palestinians in the Gaza strip between the end of Operation Cast Lead and 30 October 2012, 113 of whom were civilians not taking part in hostilities. According to Israeli security officials, Hamas, aided by Iranian technical experts and the Sudanese government, smuggled into Gaza Iranian-made Fajr-5 rockets with increased range and lethality. This move placed the highly populated Israeli central district and other metropolitan areas in range of rocket attacks. However, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari stated, "We haven't sent any weapons to Gaza because it is under blockade, but we are honoured to announce that we gave them the technology of how to make Fajr-5 missiles." Ali Larijani said Iran was "honored" to help Gaza's Hamas with "material and military aspects". According to Reuters, there were roughly 35,000 Palestinian militants in Gaza as of November 2012. ==Pre-operation events==

, with Israeli-controlled borders and limited fishing zone Several factors acted to increase tensions between Israel and Hamas. Israel restricted Gazan fishing due to concerns the fishing boats could be used for smuggling arms and other contraband. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported 92 Israeli attacks within the 3 miles zone against Palestinian fishermen in the first half of 2012 with 43 men arrested, 18 boats confiscated and 4 times equipment damaged and confiscated. Israel has imposed a limited fishing zone, limiting Gazan fishermen to fishing within three nautical miles instead of the twenty stipulated in the Oslo Accords. Fishery provides Gaza with a large share of its food production and provided more than 12,000 jobs. According to Amira Hass, the Israeli Navy routinely fire on Palestinian fishermen, sometimes detaining and transferring them for a minor interrogation at the Shin Bet security service's offices in Ashdod. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, in July and August, 11 Israeli attacks took place and 2 fishermen were detained. One boat was confiscated. On 28 September 2012, Israeli soldiers entered the Gaza Strip and attacked a group of Palestinian fishermen who were fishing at the beach near the border, wounding one of them and mortally wounding his brother. The Israeli army said they had fired on two Palestinians who had entered a restricted zone near the security barrier. The family of the killed fisherman said that the fishers used to fish there and that the soldiers knew who they were and used to watch the Palestinian fishermen. In one of 11 other attacks in September, the Israeli Navy reportedly tried to drown two fishing boats. Also in October 2012, there were several mutual Israeli–Palestinian attacks, each a response to a previous response/attack by the other side. Palestinian groups planted bombs alongside the border and attacked Israeli farmers with rockets. According to a summary by Shin Bet, 92 separate attacks occurred in October 2012, with 171 rockets and mortar shells fired against Israel. Gazan groups alleged retaliation against Israeli attacks that had killed or wounded civilians and militants alike. An arms factory in Khartoum, Sudan, alleged to have participated in arms-smuggling to Hamas, exploded on 23 October 2012. The Israeli government refused to either confirm or deny its involvement, though the explosion was widely believed to be a long-range attack by the Israeli Air Force. On 24 October, after a week in which dozens of rockets struck Israel and Israel conducted strikes against militant targets in Gaza, On 25 October, a ceasefire was allegedly negotiated by Egypt, but the existence of any truce was disputed both by Israeli and Palestinian officials. Although aggression continued in the following days, there were no more casualties on either side until 2 November. On 2 November, a 22-year-old Palestinian who, according to the IDF, was suspected of attempting to place an explosive device on the Gaza-Israel border, was seriously wounded on Friday morning by Israeli tank fire. According to the IDF, he had been suspected of attempting to place an explosive device on the Gaza-Israel border. On 5 November, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 20-year-old Palestinian man who approached a fence near Gaza's side of the border with Israel, reportedly ignoring warning shots and instructions to leave the area. Palestinians said that the man was unarmed, suffered from mental issues, and was constantly on medication. His relatives later said that he had approached the border before, and that at those times, Israeli soldiers used to take him back to Gazan authorities. On 5 November, a Palestinian roadside bomb exploded and Israeli soldiers were injured. On 7 November, the armed wing of the Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad group fired a volley of rockets at Israel, a day after an Israeli strike against targets in the Gaza Strip. In the Israeli strike, one Islamic Jihad fighter had been wounded, as well as four children at a suspected rocket launch area. It also damaged a mosque and a water tower. On 8 November, the IDF made a short-range incursion into Gaza after finding more bombs along the border, leading to a gunfight with the Popular Resistance Committees. During the clash, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed. Palestinians claimed that his death occurred "by machine-gun fire, either from IDF helicopters or tanks that took part in the incident." Later that day, Palestinian militants detonated an explosives-packed tunnel they had dug on the border, wounding four Israeli soldiers. According to Arutz Sheva, 2 Qassam rockets were fired into Israel on 9 November, exploding on open ground. On 10 November, militants fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF Jeep on routine patrol near Israel's side of the border. Four soldiers were wounded, one of whom was in critical condition following the attack. The IDF shelled the source of the fire and pre-chosen targets in the Sa'ajiya area. Four teenagers, aged 16 to 18, were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a sports stadium while they played soccer. Gaza militants then fired at least 30 rockets and several mortar shells into southern Israel, The Color Red siren was sounded in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gan Yavne, and surrounding areas causing Israelis within seven kilometers of the Gaza Strip to remain near protected areas. The Gan Yavne regional council canceled school because of the rocket barrage. The sides continued to exchange fire for several days after the incident. Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets, striking homes in Israeli cities, one landing near a school. Several Israelis were wounded by shrapnel in a barrage designed to coincide with the morning commute to work. Two people were injured when their car sustained a direct hit. Schools across southern Israel were closed. The mayor of Beersheba, Ruvik Danilovich, explained, "We have experienced hits on our education institutions in the past ... 40,000 children will remain at home today because of the attack that hit us out of the blue." Israel carried out further airstrikes in Gaza. Six Palestinian militants were killed, including one militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On 12 November, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) officials indicated a willingness to discuss a ceasefire. A PIJ spokesman said, "The ball is in Israel's court. The resistance factions will observe Israel's behavior on the ground and will act accordingly." However, Palestinians fired 12 rockets at Israel throughout the day. A factory and a house were hit, and three civilians were wounded. Israel asked the UN Security Council to condemn the rocket attacks, with Minister Barak saying that Israel "would not accept the harm to daily life of our civilians." Gershon Baskin, an Israeli peace activist who was a mediator between Israel and Hamas in the negotiations that resulted in the release of Gilad Shalit, reported that hours before the strike that killed Ahmed Jabari, Jabari had received a draft of a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. According to Reuven Pedatzur, the negotiations had been conducted with the consent of Ehud Barak, and a week before the strike IDF officials had asked to be briefed on their progress, but permission for the briefing was denied. ==Operation timeline==

The two main parties, Israel and Hamas, refused to deal with each other directly. Instead, negotiations were conducted thorough intermediaries. Officials from the US and Egypt acted as the facilitators. Attempts at ceasefire Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas were mediated by Egypt. Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi predicted the negotiations would lead to positive results very soon. By contrast, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after meeting with Netanyahu, said that the process would take place in the "days ahead." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also met with Netanyahu to attempt to end the violence. Turkish foreign ministers and Arab League diplomats were sent to Gaza to promote a truce between the warring parties. According to reports in Cairo, Israel made six demands for a ceasefire: • No violence for a period of more than 15 years. • No smuggling or transfer of arms to Gaza. • End of all rocket fire and attacks on Israeli soldiers. • Israel reserves the right to attack terrorists in case of an attack or of a potential attack. • Israeli-Gaza crossings will remain closed (although Gaza-Egypt crossings may remain open) • Egypt's politicians must guarantee the above demands. Hamas's demands for a ceasefire included the lifting of the naval blockade of Gaza, international community guarantees for the cessation of targeted killings, an end to IDF cross-border raids, and the cessation of attack. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal additionally wanted "international guarantees" for the lifting of the blockade. Ceasefire of 21 November On 21 November, Mohamed Kamel Amr, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, announced a ceasefire that would take effect at 21:00 GMT+2. The agreement distributed by the Egyptian presidency reads: Khaled Mashal, the exiled leader of Hamas, thanked Egypt for mediating the ceasefire and claimed that Israel had been defeated. He also praised Iran for providing militants with financing and arms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Operation Pillar of Defense had been successful and thanked US President Obama for his "unwavering support for Israel's right to defend itself." Post-ceasefire incidents An explosion took place in Gaza in unclear circumstances after the ceasefire; no casualties were reported. In the hour after the ceasefire was declared, twelve rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel. All of them landed in open areas. Air raid sirens sounded in Eshkol, Sderot, Hof Ashkelon, Ashdod, Kiryat Malachi and Sha'ar Hanegev. One rocket over Ashdod was intercepted by the Iron Dome. The day after the ceasefire Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian farmer and wounded another 19. The survivors, who thought the terms of the truce allowed them access to their land, said they ventured into the Israeli-established "buffer zone" inside Gaza's border to pray, while climbing on the Israeli Defense Wall. The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, complained to the organization that the attack was a violation of the ceasefire. On 28 November, Israel opened fire on two fishing boats off the coast of Gaza and detained nine Gazan fishermen. According to Mahfouth al-Kabriti, the head of Gaza's fishing association, the fishermen were six miles off the coastthe limit within which, as Israel agreed in the ceasefire deal, Gazan fishermen could sail. According to the Israeli Navy, the fishermen had ventured beyond the area designated as allowable for fishing, and did not heed requests to return to the area before being detained. On 30 November, another young Gazan man, 21-year-old Mahmoud Jaroun, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Rafah. According to Ma'an News Agency, Israeli forces had already violated the ceasefire several times by the beginning of December 2012 by firing at Palestinian farmers. On 1 December, Islamic Jihad warned that more "Israeli violations of a ceasefire deal" would move the group to respond. ==Spillover==

West Bank The conflict sparked widespread protests in the West Bank, leading to an upsurge in clashes between Palestinians and the IDF. On 14 November, two Israelis were lightly injured when their vehicle was stoned near Gush Etzion. The road from Jerusalem to Gush Etzion was closed as a result of fierce protests. On 18 November, a 31-year-old Palestinian man participating in a demonstration in Nabi Salih was killed by Israeli fire. The IDF, which described the protest as "illegal and violent", launched an investigation into the incident. By 19 November, over 50 Palestinians had been reported injured during solidarity protests held in East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Beit Ummar, and Qalandia. On 19 November, thousands marched in response to the killing of a protester the previous day. According to Israel Hayom, a protester in Halhul who attempted to attack an Israeli soldier was shot and killed. Further protests and clashes occurred throughout the West Bank on 21–22 November. Thousands of Palestinians protested the death of Rushdi al-Tamimi, whose funeral procession passed through Ramallah and Birzeit University before ending in Tamimi's hometown of Nabi Salih. Several protesters attending the funeral lobbed stones at Israeli troops manning the entrance of the village, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of the Palestinian man killed in Hebron on 20 November. Following his burial many young protesters approached an Israeli settlement near Bab al-Zawiya Square, sparking clashes with Israeli forces who fired rubber bullets and tear gas. About 40 Palestinians were injured. In the city of Nablus, hundreds of protesters waved Hamas flags. The entrance to Bani Naim was closed by the IDF after clashes between them and the town's residents. Meanwhile, the northern West Bank village of al-Jalama was declared "a closed military zone" after hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators protested at the village checkpoint. Five Palestinians were arrested in house raids by the Israeli military in Ya'bad and Tubas. Israel alleged that the detained men had previously thrown stones at Israeli troops. On 20 November, a Lebanese army patrol discovered two ready-to-launch 107mm Grad rockets between the villages of Halta and Mari, about 2 miles from the Israeli border. The forces defused the rockets. IDF official Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said Palestinian factions in Lebanon were probably behind the plot. (See: List of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel.) On 21 November, the day of the ceasefire, two rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel landed within Lebanon, according to Beirut officials. The next day, the Lebanese army disarmed an additional rocket aimed at Israel, this one in Marjayoun, about 10 kilometers from the border. ==Casualties==

Israeli casualties which was hit by a rocket, killing three residents Four Israeli civilians and two soldiers were killed in Palestinian rocket attacks. Three of the civilians died in a direct hit on an apartment building in Kiryat Malakhi. The fourth Israeli civilian death was an Israeli-Arab contractor for the Israeli Defense Ministry who was killed in a rocket attack in the Eshkol Region. Both of the Israeli military fatalities were killed in rocket and mortar barrages on the Eshkol Regional Council. One of them was wounded on the last day of the conflict and died of his injuries on 22 November. By 20 November, almost 250 Israelis had been injured in rocket attacks, The IDF credited the low Israeli casualty rate to a number of factors, both offensive and defensive: its preemptive targeting of launching pads and rocket arsenals, its ability to strike militants in the act of launching rockets, the 80%+ success rate of Israel's Iron Dome missile interception system, the existence of bomb-proof rooms in every Israeli house, the implementation of the Red Color alarm system, and public outreach efforts by its Home Front Command. Palestinian casualties In March 2013 the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a report stating 174 Palestinians in total died, 107 of them civilians. Based on a large-scale survey, Al Mezan counted 129 civilians and 39 combatants killed. The Israeli air force says that it takes all possible measures to avoid harming Palestinian civilians, utilizing precision strikes and issuing preemptive warnings to Palestinian residents. The IDF alleges that it disseminated warning leaflets instructing civilians to avoid areas used by Hamas for firing rockets, and also phoned residents in warnings. It says targets were deliberately missed on the first strike to allow the non-combatants to vacate the area and missions were aborted because of a civilian presence. A surviving family member denied that a warning had been given to his family to flee the home: "They didn't give us a warning. They just hit the house with the children in it. My daughters were in their youth. What did they do to them?". The PCHR stated that the number of injured people had reached 1,000. Combatants versus non-combatants The media and combating parties, in counting the casualties, often use different definitions of "combatants" or "militants". The International Committee of the Red Cross regards persons as civilians if they do not fulfill a "continuous combat function" (for example, many police officers) or do not participate directly in hostilities. Civilians are entitled to protection and may not be the object of an attack. The fact that a person killed was a member of any particular Palestinian organization does not, in and of itself, prove that he took part in the hostilities or that he lost the protection given him as a civilian. One man, Ashraf Ouaida, was killed on 16 November near a mosque in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. An eyewitness said he saw two masked men emerge from a Jeep, drag the victim underneath a Hamas billboard and shoot him multiple times in the head, before hanging a poster citing his alleged crimes. Militants shot six other Palestinians in the street on 20 November. The man whose body was tied to a motorcycle, Ribhi Badawi, was a member of Jaljalat, an Islamist group that maintains a rivalry with Hamas. Badawi's family, neighbors, and friends maintained that the allegations of his having spied for Israel were "absurd", noting that he had spent the previous four years in a Hamas prison under armed guard. His widow stated that he confessed to aiding Israel after being tortured by Hamas for seven months with methods that included being burned, having his jaw and teeth broken, and being hung for 45 days by his arms and legs. On 21 November, Hamas deputy leader Mousa Abu Marzook condemned the killings as "unlawful", adding that any punishments or executions must follow the legal process. He further added that those behind the killings must be punished. Palestinian casualties from Palestinian fire Some of the Palestinian civilian deaths are believed to have been caused by a Palestinian rocket that fell short of its target, not by Israel, and two were "high-profile" incidents. The UN report into the events by the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that of the 174 Palestinians killed, 168 were killed by Israeli military action, while 6 civilians may have been killed by Palestinian armed groups firing rockets from Gaza. Ahmed al-Mishrawi, 18, later died from his injuries. According to The New York Times, "the damage was nowhere near severe enough to have come from an Israeli F-16, raising the possibility that an errant missile fired by Palestinian militants was responsible for the deaths." Experts from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights examined the site and opined that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket; the boy's mother acknowledged that Palestinian militants might have been responsible. A United Nations Report released in March 2013 concluded that Sadallah "[was] killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel" and not by an Israeli airstrike. The UN reported that at least one other child and adult had also been killed by Hamas fire. == Damage ==

Based on a large-scale survey by workers in the field, which Al Mezan claims to be extremely accurate, Al Mezan reported the total destruction of 124 houses located in all of the Gaza Strip, and partial damage of 2,050 homes. In just one week, the Israeli army destroyed numerous public and private premises, including 52 places of worship, 25 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 97 schools, 15 health institutions, 14 journalist premises, 8 police stations, 16 government buildings, and 11 political sites. Fifteen factories and 192 trade shops were damaged or destroyed. Twelve water wells as well as agricultural lands were destroyed. ==Alleged war crimes==

Hamas Targeting of civilians Both U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the continuing indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilians in Israel by militants from Gaza. from Gaza hit it near a residential building in the city of Beersheba during Operation Pillar of Defense, November 2012. Human Rights Watch stated that armed Palestinian groups fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities, violating international humanitarian law, and that statements by Palestinian groups that they deliberately targeted Israeli civilians demonstrated an "intent to commit war crimes." HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said that Palestinian groups made clear that "harming civilians was their aim" and said that the launching rockets at populated areas had no legal justification. International humanitarian law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, and intentional violations can be war crimes. Human Rights Watch said it had not been able to identify any instance where civilians had been warned to evacuate an area before a rocket launch by Palestinian militants. Richard Landes criticised Hamas for firing from the midst of civilians, a practice leading to casualties blamed on Israeli counter-strikes to garner Western sympathy. The IDF stated that Hamas makes use of "human shield" tactics and said "By operating from densely populated areas, Hamas willingly endangers its own people, turning their houses and schools into terror sites and weapon depots." The Jerusalem Post and Fox News said Palestinian rocket launch-sites were put next to hospitals, schools, mosques, and playgrounds. On 21 November a long-range Qassam rocket, of the type Israel has accused Iran of supplying to Hamas, was fired from within 500 yards of the hospital and hit Gush Etzion, southeast of Jerusalem. An IDF spokesman stated they had released footage of "rocket fire from a mosque courtyard, prayer houses, public places and homes". In March 2013, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report criticizing Palestinian groups for launching rocket attacks from densely populated areas. The report stated that "The [Palestinian] armed groups failed to take all feasible precautions in attacks, in particular by launching rockets from populated areas, which put the population at grave risk." The PCHR reported that an Israeli strike had killed al-Quds Radio journalist Muhammed Abu Eisha. The UN, The New York Times, Reporters without Borders, and Human Rights Watch condemned Israel for the attack. Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that PCHR failed to mention that Eisha was also a member of the Islamic Jihad and had participated in rocket attacks against Israel. Eisha's name and photo appeared on the Islamic Jihad's website at the time of his death. British MP Gerald Kaufman criticized the Israeli offensive, and its broader context — of occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza — as war crimes. In an emergency meeting of the Arab League, foreign ministers of member-states accused Israel of perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity. Turkey and Iran accused Israel of committing war crimes and refused to consider the Israeli airstrikes self-defense. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of committing "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. Bombing of media facilities In four Israeli attacks on media facilities and journalists, ten media workers were wounded, and two cameramen and a two-year-old was killed. Human Rights Watch conducted an investigation into these incidents and concluded that "there were no indications that these targets were valid military objectives." and thus "violated the laws of war by targeting civilians and civilian objects that were making no apparent contribution to Palestinian military operations". HRW further stated that journalists and civilian broadcasting facilities were not legitimate military targets simply because they broadcast pro-Hamas or anti-Israel propaganda. In one separate incident, according to the IDF, it hit four Islamic Jihad militants hiding out in a media center in Gaza, the Al-Sharouk compound. PIJ reported by text message that one of their senior militant operatives, Ramez Harb, was killed in the airstrike. as well as Palestinian cameramen. Israel warned the foreign journalists to leave the building before the strike. One foreign journalist that worked there spoke of his anger that the building was being used as a hideout by Palestinian militants, endangering many people. Writing for The New York Times, David Carr noted that IDF spokeswoman Avital Leibovich, who said that the journalists were "people who have relevance to terror activity", did not identify the strike as a mistake. Carr accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists under the cover of war, using "amorphous" phrases such as "relevance to terror activity" to justify the attacks. NGO Monitor stated that Hamas in Gaza "terrorizes the international press" because it put its own operational communication antennas on top of buildings whose lower floors house foreign media outlets. ==Social media and Internet==

The IDF made widespread use of Twitter and a liveblog to give an up-to-date account of its operations. The military wing of Hamas also made use of Twitter, publicising its rocket and mortar attacks and tweeting when Israeli casualties were reported. Foreign Policy magazine labeled this effort a "milestone in military communications." Twitter had previously been used to present information regarding military engagements by both the Kenya Defence Forces and Al Shabaab during the KDF's operation against Al Shabaab in Somalia in 2011. The IDF's Twitter account gained more than 50,000 new followers in 24 hours. An app based on an idea provided by a 13-year-old was developed to supply up-to-date reports of imminent missile attacks and send information of the location and timing of the public "Color Red" alerts. The app allowed users extra time to run to bomb shelters. Hamas produced a video that threatened the lives of Israeli citizens and warned, "Wait soon for us in the bus stops and cafes." The video became a popular target for parody because of its technical problems and the broken Hebrew written and spoken in it. During the campaign, pro-Palestinian hackers launched a concerted effort to cripple Israeli websites. Israeli websites faced over 60 million hacking attempts, which failed to cause any significant damage. In April 2013 Anonymous attacked many Israeli websites in response to the IDF offensive in Gaza. They called the attack #OpIsrael and claimed to have taken down at least 700 sites as of 18 November 2012. The Israeli Defense Forces claimed to have deflected 44 million cyber attacks by that date. Many of the websites were replaced with messages condemning the Israeli campaign and expressing support for the citizens of Gaza. Hackers from Kuwait disrupted the website of Likud MK Danny Danon, who had posted an online petition urging the government of Israel to cease providing the Gaza Strip with electricity. The Facebook and Twitter accounts of Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Likud MK Silvan Shalom were hacked by a pro-Palestinian group called ZCompanyHackingCrew. Criticism of IDF media campaign The IDF's blog incorporates gamification features where visitors are awarded points and given badges for things such as visiting the blog or sharing its contents on their social networks. Although the blog had had these features previously, they had been disabled before Operation Pillar of Defense due to "high traffic." Israel's social media campaign around Operation Pillar of Defense has been perceived by some parties as overly aggressive or otherwise inappropriate. Wired described Israel's efforts as "hyper-pugnacious," and Foreign Policy's Michael Koplow expressed fears that Israel's social media campaign might contribute to some people's "fear of Israel run amok with no regard for the collateral damage being caused." Allegations of Hamas disinformation Hamas attempted to conduct "psychological warfare" consisting primarily of fake emails and Facebook postings. Many Israelis received a false announcement from an "IDF Spokesman" warning that "terrorists in Gaza can track you and direct their Katyushas to your location!" if they opened their text messages. Thousands received emails in broken Hebrew that "the military censorship of military intelligence" was concealing information about attacks on soldiers and urged them to view the "picture of the field of death in which our soldiers are falling in Gaza." The attached YouTube videos, though claiming to show an IDF jeep struck by a missile, was in fact a vehicle of the Reuters news agency that had been hit on the border. Hamas warned Gazan civilians against spreading unsourced information, claiming that such behavior harmed national security and aided Israel's "psychological war". The Interior Ministry said that it would convey any "needed information" in order to "safeguard the truth." The statement came after Hamas gunmen publicly shot a Gaza resident multiple times in the head for allegedly collaborating with Israeli authorities. Richard Landes, a blogger and American Associate Professor of history at Boston University, accused Hamas of "brazen hypocrisy" and exploiting a death they had caused in order to garner Western sympathy. Hamas fabricated achievements and used pictures of children injured or killed in Syria, presenting them in the social media as Palestinian dead. One of its tweets about the Israeli strikes contained a picture of a dead girl, previously posted on the "Syrians & Friends" Facebook page in October 2012. Another photo of explosions that was uploaded to the Facebook page affiliated with Hamas appeared to be digitally altered. Hamas staged several fake deaths and scenes of injury in front of TV crews. Some argued that Hamas' manipulation effectively undermined their own cause, as readers could not be certain of the authenticity of what they were seeing. ==Media coverage==

Noam Chomsky, Seumas Milne, Glenn Greenwald, John Mearsheimer, Paul Pillar, and several other writers have blamed Israel for the conflict. Former British commander, Richard Kemp, by contrast, said there was a "very effective anti-Israel propaganda machine" that misunderstands what he considers the reality that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Sharine Tadros, an Al Jazeera correspondent to the Middle East who covers the conflict from Gaza, criticized several aspects of the media approach to the conflict. Tadros criticized what she said was an uncritical and repetitive use by journalists of Israel's justifications for targeting homes and other civilian structures. Tadros further criticized the use of terms such as "Hamas school". According to her, "Hamas" is used as an adjective by Israel as justification for targeting civilian infrastructure. On 19 November, BBC Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison retweeted a photograph of a dead or injured child titled "Pain in Gaza", with his own comment "heartbreaking". It was soon shown that the photo was apparently taken in Syria and is dated to 28 October 2012, before the beginning of the events in Gaza. Donnison apologized for the incident. Pro-Palestinian activists co-opted another photograph on Twitter, identifying an injured infant held by a rescue worker as a "young injured Palestinian child". However, Facebook and Twitter users recognized it as that of an Israeli baby wounded by a Hamas rocket attack; "Kiryat Malachi" was printed on the rescue worker's vest. Photographs of a distraught Palestinian man, Jihad al-Masharawi, Video HonestReporting, a pro-Israel media monitoring organization, accused BBC News of broadcasting footage of an injured Palestinian man who was later shown walking around, calling it a case of "Pallywood". A BBC spokesperson said in response, "The footage shown by BBC News was edited from a longer sequence provided by the Reuters news agency in which the man in question is shown being lifted from the ground. He is then given attention at the roadside, before appearing later having recovered. Steps have been taken to ensure any re-broadcast reflects the full sequence so that is absolutely clear to our audience." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) expressed concern for the use of footage by the IDF which suggested the agency's complicity in "terrorist activities" targeting Israel. ==Reactions==