JERUSALEM, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas militant group had "hacked into hundreds of Israeli soldiers' mobile phones" by posing as young Israeli women on social media before the attempt was thwarted, Israel's military said Sunday.

File photo: CGTN

Military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters that the phones of soldiers and officers were hacked by malware that extracted information from the devices and recorded conversations.
"As of now, it appears that no security damage was caused," the military said in a statement.
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist movement headquartered in the Gaza Strip, a land Israel seized in a war in 1967 together with the West Bank and has controlled ever since despite international criticism.
Despite Egyptian and UN efforts to broker a truce between the two foes, low-level fighting has continued, including rockets and mortars from Gaza at southern Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.