Palestinians demonstrating in Gaza as part of the Great March of Return. AFP file photo

Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat

The internal security apparatus of Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip said on Tuesday that it has arrested a number of collaborators with Israel who have admitted to monitoring events held during weekly protests called the Great March of Return.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the apparatus broadcast a short movie documenting the struggle between the security apparatus in Gaza and the Israeli Intelligence on the spies.

The movie included a scene on the arrest of a suspect.

The video also revealed details about a 60-year-old collaborator, known as M12, who has been linked to the Israeli Intelligence since 1994.

M12 admitted that in May 2018, he contacted an officer called “Riad” and offered him information about the location from where rockets were launched.

He admitted that “Riad” questioned him about the preparations for organizing the weekly Great March of Return and information about the young Palestinians who were responsible for providing tires during the protests.

M12 collaborated with a number of Israeli officers, Hamas said. In 1994, he worked with “Abu Daoud,” in 2009, he was in contact with two officers, “Jalal” and “Jihad,” and in 2016, he worked with “Shafik” while in 2017 he operated with “Zaher” and “Riad."

The video showed a photo of Israeli Intelligence officer “Shafik,” who operates with the apparatus of Beit Hanoun, in north Gaza.

M12 admitted he first met with Shafik in December 2016 and later in June 2017. His third meeting with the Israeli officer was in the city of Netanya in the Occupied Territories.

Another collaborator code-named “R24” admitted that he was in contact with an Israeli officer known as “Abu Amir,” who said in a local accent: “We paid a lot of money in Gaza so the people revolt against the Hamas government. However, all our plans have failed. Instead of demonstrating against the government in Gaza, people went to the border and created problems.”

He was referring to the Great March of Return, which are weekly protests on the border with Israel, held by Palestinians seeking to regain access to land, now in Israel, from which their ancestors were forced to flee during the country's creation in 1948.

The Gaza internal apparatus did not reveal the number of collaborators that it has recently arrested.