“We have evidence.” The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accuses Israel of hacking the phones of its workers

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accuses Israel of spying on its employees' phones, and asserts in a statement that it has "evidence and legal documents recognizing the existence of this Israeli penetration."

On Wednesday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused the Israeli authorities of hacking the phones of its workers.

In a statement on Facebook, the Foreign Ministry said: "We expected that our telephone devices were infiltrated by the occupation authorities, and that there was complete eavesdropping and monitoring of everything we say or send."

She added, "This time, we have evidence and legal documents that acknowledge the existence of this Israeli penetration," without giving further details.

This is the first official statement that the phones of workers in a Palestinian government agency have been hacked, after confirming that the phones of workers in Palestinian human rights organizations were hacked.

And on Monday, the Dublin-based international human rights organization, Front Line Defenders, said that it had discovered the use of the "Pegasus" spyware, produced by the Israeli company "NSO", to "hack the phones of six Palestinian human rights defenders."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants described piracy as "a flagrant and immoral violation of international law and human rights principles and rises to the level of a crime that must be held accountable."

She added that she is studying "all the options that must be followed to expose the aggressive and racist practices of the occupying power and hold them accountable for violating all regulations and laws , and even violating the rights and privacy of our people, violating all international norms and prevailing laws."

She said she was preparing a "complete file for this crime in preparation for a referral to the relevant international bodies, including international criminal justice institutions."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry held "the Israeli occupation government and its various branches fully responsible for any damage to civil society institutions, cadres and people working in them and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates."

It called on the international community, its institutions and all companies, to boycott the parties that were implicated in the espionage scandals, and to work jointly to hold them accountable and bring them to international justice.

According to Front Line Defenders, three of the victims work for the Al-Haq and Addameer institutions, and the Bisan Research and Development Center, which are among six institutions that Israel declared on October 19 to be “terrorist organizations.”