On Nov. 17, IDF reserve soldiers in staging areas around the Gaza Strip. They can go home in the coming days if the Israel-Hamas ceasefire holds. Photo: Israel Defense Forces.

During Operation Pillar of Defense threatening text messages were sent to the cell phones of IDF reservists and soldiers and the army now knows why: A soldier from their unit posted the sensitive information to the internet.

According to an article on Israel Channel 2’s website, during the operation Islamic Jihad published to its website that the terrorist organization was able to send thousands of SMS messages threatening Israeli civilians, reservists and military officials.

During Operation Pillar of Defense the IDF adjusted online personnel procedures to include “no posting of any information about the operation, including the locations of forces, names, units – with an emphasis on social networking.” It also warned not to “open messages with attached files or links from unfamiliar addresses and do not answer calls from an unrecognized number.” It said “especially during the operation, the enemy is investing considerable effort in search of information about the IDF on the web…”