A family member of an Israeli soldier told Heavy.com today that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has begun to take away the cell phones of all soldiers stationed on the Gaza border. Historically, the army will take away cell phones in preparation of military action.
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One major reason behind this is to prevent soldiers from taking pictures from within a war zone.
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One develpment that has separated this conflict from past conflicts in Israel is the use of social media. Both Israeli and Hamas military spokesmen have been overly active on their respective Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook pages. The IDF even has a pinterest . The IDF confiscating cell phones is a clear sign that they only want their official spokespeople handling media coming out of the war zone.
Amid the signs of an impending ground attack, a cease fire was announced today, set to take effect at 2 p.m. EST. This comes despite a bus bombing today in Tel Aviv.