Twitter suspends Hamas accounts

Twitter has suspended the account of Hamas, the Palestinian group opposing Israel and its military forces in the region, according to a message posted by the group on its Al-Qassam website. Hamas’ @qassambrigade account, which was the second one created by the group, was suspended Thursday. The first account, @alqassambrigade, was removed on Jan. 9.

As The Lede reported in late 2012 during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the blockaded Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas, the Islamist militants used their now-suspended @AlqassamBrigade Twitter account to reply directly to messages from @IDFSpokesperson, the official account of the Israel Defense Forces. Although those exchanges of insults and threats have disappeared from the social network with the suspension of that account and at least two more used by the militants, the Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf preserved a screenshot of one interaction that was posted on Twitter even as the two sides also traded rocket fire.