Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar intimated the people of Gaza for years by supervising a secret police force that had informants reporting anyone who protested against or publicly criticized Hamas.

The New York Times reviewed what it called a “trove of internal documents” and information gleaned from intelligence officials, stating, that Sinwar’s General Security Service — comprised of 856 people — kept files on Gazans against the Hamas regime. Those files targeted at least 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

A 62-slide presentation on the General Security Service showed that the entity worked to suppress demonstrations criticizing the regime for power shortages and the cost of living.

“The General Security Service’s goals are similar to those of security services in countries like Syria that have used secret units to quell dissent,” The Times reported.  “There are a lot of people practicing self-censorship,” Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor in Gaza City told the Times. “They just don’t want problems with the Hamas government.”

The leftist group Amnesty International reported in 2015 that “Hamas forces carried out a brutal campaign of abductions, torture and unlawful killings against Palestinians accused of ‘collaborating’ with Israel and others during Israel’s military offensive against Gaza in July and August 2014.”

“In the chaos of the conflict, the de facto Hamas administration granted its security forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses including against people in its custody. These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to exact revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip,” Philip Luther of Amnesty International stated.

“Instead of upholding justice, the Hamas authorities and leadership have continuously encouraged and facilitated these appalling crimes against powerless individuals. Their failure to even condemn the unlawful killings, abduction and torture of perceived suspects leaves them effectively with blood on their hands,” he continued.

Roughly three weeks after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas murdered more than 1200 Israelis, Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid said Hamas blocked people from leaving northern Gaza, “pushing people back into their houses, not allowing them to move.” He added, “Unfortunately, sometimes we have more and more casualties among the Palestinians because of such kind of attitude and behavior of Hamas.”