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Gaza man accused of hacking Israeli drones for Islamic Jihad
A 23-year-old computer engineer from the Gaza Strip was yesterday charged in an Israeli court with infiltrating Israel’s drone surveillance system and other networks on behalf of Islamic Jihad.
Majad Awida was arrested in February by the Shin Bet security service, after he was given permission to leave Gaza in order to recruit for a television talent show on which he works. Awida, who has apparently been an Islamic Jihad member for at least five years, was asked to write software which would hack into the drone system which monitors and broadcasts images over the Gaza Strip. He purchased a rudimentary satellite dish and other equipment for this purpose and on his third attempt, successfully accessed the system.
The Shin Bet said that Awida was able to view “the transmissions that the drone was seeing over Gaza in real time, in full HD quality” and he “saw that the drone was collecting intelligence information about terror operatives who were operating in the field of gunfire and missile storage in the Gaza Strip.” Islamic Jihad apparently used Awida’s system from 2012 until 2014.
He then hacked the Palestinian mobile phone network and attempted to infiltrate two Israeli networks too, in order to pinpoint Palestinians collaborating with Israel. Awida also successfully hacked into Israeli traffic cameras and those monitoring air traffic at Ben Gurion international airport, which Islamic Jihad hoped would enable them to assess the accuracy of rocket attacks. Awida has been charged with spying, conspiracy, contact with enemy agents and membership of an illegal organization.
However, Awida’s technological expertise was not only utilised against Israel. He is also thought to have hacked the Hamas Interior Ministry in Gaza in 2015, in order to give Islamic Jihad information on recruits.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have launched rocket and other attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip. However, Islamic Jihad does not necessarily accept Hamas’s authority in Gaza, which it has ruled since violently overthrowing the Palestinian Authority in 2007.