Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza Strip, claims a dolphin found in the Mediterranean Sea just off the coast is an Israeli spy.
According to the BBC, the dolphin was reportedly equipped with spying devices, including a camera, and was brought ashore by Hamas' naval unit.
Hamas said it suspects the marine mammal was likely trying to spy on its naval commandos, and went as far as telling the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds that the dolphin had been "stripped of its will" and turned into "a murderer" by the Israelis. They said the spy dolphin illustrated Israel's "anger" and "indignation" toward the formation of its navy.
No photos of the dolphin in question were released, and its present whereabouts are unknown. The group said it captured the dolphin weeks ago, but didn't go public until recently.
According to The Washington Post, "The fear of special agent dolphins, while amusing, is not without basis."
The U.S. Navy reportedly keeps both dolphins and sea lions trained for reconnaissance and mine detection, and Ukraine last year demanded Russia give back a unit of combat dolphins quartered in the Black Sea after the invasion of Crimea.
Israel has been accused of using many animals to spy on its neighbors in the region.
Five years ago, Egyptian authorities accused Israel of sending sharks to its shores in order to scare beachgoers and drive down tourism. Two years after that, Sudan claimed to have caught a spy eagle. The Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah also claimed to have captured an Israeli spy eagle in 2013.
Before all of it, however, an Iranian state news agency reported that 14 squirrels had been "arrested" on espionage charges.
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