Israel Accused Of Deploying Dolphins To Attack Hamas' Frog Troops, Called Equipped With Cameras And Weapons

JAKARTA - The Palestinian armed group Hamas has accused Israel of deploying armed dolphins to chase their frog troops off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

Citing The Jerusalem Post from Al-Quds Jan. 12, in an undisclosed operation, a dolphin, equipped with a lethal device, chased Hamas' frog troops, a spokesman for the Al-Qassam brigade's naval command said in a video.

"Zionist killer dolphins exist, according to Hamas publications," tweeted Joe Truzman, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Long War Journal.

"Abu Hamza explained that a member of the Hamas Frog Force unit who was killed by Israel during the May conflict faced a killer dolphin. The device used by the killer dolphin was shown in the publication."

The exact nature and function of the water attack device was not disclosed, but Al-Quds claims to have sources regarding another combat cetacean incident in August 2015 that was equipped with remote controls, cameras, and weapons that can fire projectiles such as spears.

Al-Quds sources claimed that Hamas had managed to capture the 2015 Israeli dolphin operation, but did not report what happened to the military reswine, which may still be in captivity. According to the BBC, the newspaper claims the marine mammal was "disarmed" and turned into a "killer" by Israeli forces.

Past reports of Israeli killer dolphins and other military marine animals have become memes on social media, as indicated by the tagline of the popular Mossad satirical Twitter account: "We put lasers on aquatic animals and other satirical crimes."

Hamas' latest claims about Israel's dolphin troop were widely met with ridicule online. Some Twitter users have questioned whether dolphins have laser guns attached, referring to the villain in the Austin Powers comedy who demands that sharks have lasers attached to their heads.

Israel has in the past been accused of using other armed animals for military purposes. In 2010, Egypt's South Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha called the deadly shark attack in Sharm el-Sheikh part of a Mossad operation to undermine Egyptian tourism.

In 2011, Saudi Arabian authorities detained a vulture on suspicion of Israeli spying after a misunderstanding about the purpose of the tracking device it was carrying. Turkish authorities also detained a suspected Israeli spy bird in 2013, but released it after X-rays showed it was not fitted with surveillance equipment.

Separately, Iran has also been accused by the Mirror tabloid of using killer dolphins equipped with spears strapped to their heads.

Marine animals have a long history of military use, though usually for surveillance and equipment retrieval, not water killings as Hamas claims it is trying to avoid.

Russia has also been reported by the Guardian as suspecting the use of beluga whales for possible surveillance purposes. Meanwhile, according to National Geographic, the US Navy has had a marine animal program since the 60s.

While PBS reports, bottlenose dolphins are used to detect marine mines and swimmers entering territorial waters, and California sea lions are used to assist in Explosive Weapons Explosives (EOD) practices.

There have been reports of a Vietnam War-era "swimmer cancellation program" being used to tag swimmers, but the US Navy denies that dolphins have ever been used to attack humans.