Israelis across the country received fictitious text messages under the title of "emergency alert" late on Wednesday night, which called on them to leave where they were and find a protected area, Israeli media reported shortly after the incident.
The possibility that the message was sent out by Iranian officials has been undergoing examination, KAN News reported after the messages were widely spread out.
Furthermore, the IDF responded to the fictitious message and clarified that they did not send out the text announcement, KAN added.
"The announcement was not distributed on our behalf. There is no change in the defense policy of the Home Front Command," The IDF statement noted.
אלפי ישראלים קיבלו "התרעת חירום" הקוראת להיכנס למרחבים מוגנים. נבדקת האפשרות שמדובר בהודעה שמאחוריה עומדים גורמים איראנים. בצה"ל הבהירו: "ההודעה לא הופצה מטעמנו, אין שינוי במדיניות התגוננות פיקוד העורף"@Itsik_zuarets @ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/J27TsWTbXa
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 18, 2024
In the screenshot of the message, the sender appears to be named "OREFAlert," similar to the Home Front Command name in Hebrew—Pikud Haoref.
The text message received by Israelis contained a link, and above it, in misspelled words, it was written, "You must enter a protected area."
According to Walla Technology, this was an attempt to create panic among the public and is a tactic of psychological warfare.
A counterattack of cyberattacks?
The message sent late Wednesday night follows a double round of attacks on Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, which took place on both Tuesday and Wednesday and involved the explosion of pagers throughout the country.
Lebanese media reported that at least 500 people were wounded on Wednesday by the explosion, and 20 people were killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Hezbollah has accused Israel of being the saboteur, with Jerusalem staying publicly silent on the issue, but with several foreign media outlets reporting that the Mossad and IDF intelligence were behind it, and with The Post independently confirming significant aspects of the saga.
Yonah Jeremy Bob and Reuters contributed to this report.