Hamas used emojis to launch Oct. 7 invasion

Emoji-filled WhatsApp messages were used by Hamas as a coded signal to launch the invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.

By World Israel News

Hamas launched the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel using emoji-laden messages on WhatsApp, with certain emojis serving as codes to signal the beginning of the attack, multiple Israeli media outlets reported Monday.

This practice was identified by Israeli intelligence only in the wake of the Oct. 7 invasion, and was discovered when Israeli analysts examined thousands of phones and WhatsApp messages seized in Gaza during the ensuing war.

The coded messages used by Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, appear innocuous, employing patterns of emojis with a predetermined secret meaning as a form of code.

According to media reports, certain symbols, like hearts, stars, and flowers, were heavily used in the coded messages to signal the beginning of the invasion.

The emoji-based code system was also used to direct terrorists to specific locations.

The IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate discovered the code system several weeks after the invasion, after ignoring the seemingly routine messages.

Some technical difficulties also prevented the directorate from spotting the use of emojis as military code earlier, including WhatsApp’s data encryption, and the failure of those monitoring the communications to flag WhatsApp messages in real time, enabling intelligence officials to spot the link between the messages and events on the ground.

A report by Israel Hayom claimed that following the invasion, officials in the directorate had stumbled on another flaw in its handling of intel regarding Hamas communications prior to Oct. 7.

In the wake of the invasion, the MID concluded that the intel establishment had missed what was later dubbed “intelligence without content,” referencing the patterns of communication unrelated to the messages themselves, such as the timing and volume of digital communications.

Notably, Israel monitored a significant increase in cellular communication inside Gaza before the invasion but failed to interpret this as a sign of an impending attack.