JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says it it has thwarted an attempt by the Hamas militant group to hack soldiers' phones by posing as young, attractive women on social media.

The army says that Hamas, using fake social media profiles purporting to belong to the women, struck up friendships and persuaded them into downloading malware.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, says that dozens of soldiers' phones were infected.

But he says the army detected the scam early on and prevented any major information breaches.

The army says this is the third time that Hamas has tried to carry out such scams, but this was by far the most sophisticated operation.