The Twitter account of Hamas’s military wing was shut down without warning Monday night, according to a statement from the Gaza-based terror group.
The manager of the account said in a statement posted to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ website that “Twitter closed the page following pressure by Zionist groups.”
At the time of its closing, according to the account’s manager, the account had over 140,000 followers and reached 5 million tweet impressions in recent months.
Twitter also shut down the English-language Twitter account of the Qassam Brigades earlier in March, according to the group’s statement.
It wasn’t the first time that Twitter accounts associated with Hamas’s military wing have been shut down by the social media site.
During the 45-day war between Hamas and Israel in the summer of 2014, Twitter shut down all of the group’s official accounts. However, almost immediately, the Qassam Brigades began operating new accounts.
Rather than open a new account this time, Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida urged the 194,308 followers of his own account on Tuesday to follow a separate Twitter handle operated by the terror group that has been less active in recent months.
The terror group’s Twitter handle was used to publish internal news about the organization, such as when its members died in training accidents, and also to call for and praise attacks against Israeli civilians.
Twitter has been making efforts over the last two years to prevent terrorist organizations from spreading their messages through the service. The social media giant, however, has come under fire for its inability to prevent the terror groups, among them the Islamic State, from simply opening new accounts.
Source: Times of Israel
