Israeli authorities probe suspected Gaza intelligence leak by Netanyahu aide
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing by his office staff.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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RISHON LE-ZION, Israel – A suspected leak of a classified Gaza document involving an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has jolted Israeli politics and outraged the families of hostages held by Hamas who have been pushing for a deal to get their loved ones home.
Details of the case have been trickling out slowly because of a gag order.
But a magistrate’s ruling partially lifting the order has provided an initial glimpse of the case which the court said had compromised security sources and may have harmed Israel’s war effort to release the hostages.
“Classified and sensitive intelligence information was taken from Israel Defence Forces (IDF) systems and taken out illegally,” a ruling by the Rishon Le-Zion Magistrates’ Court said on Nov 3, which may have caused “serious damage to the state’s security and posed a risk to information sources”.
In that, the court said, the leak could have hurt efforts to release the hostages.
Mr Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing by his office staff and said in a statement on Nov 2 that he was made aware of the leaked document only by the media.
The four suspects – one a spokesman from Mr Netanyahu’s circle and three of them members of the security establishment – could not be reached for comment.
Details from the document in question were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept 6, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one of the media outlets that had appealed to the court to lift the gag order.
The article, labelled as an exclusive, purportedly outlined the negotiation strategy of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group that Israel has been fighting in Gaza for more than a year.
Around that time, the US, Qatar and Egypt were mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas that were to include a deal to release hostages held in Gaza.
But the talks faltered with Israel and Hamas trading blame for the deadlock. The article in question largely corresponded with Mr Netanyahu’s allegations against Hamas over the impasse.
It was published days after six Israeli hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. Their killing sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostage families, who accused Mr Netanyahu of torpedoing the ceasefire talks for political reasons.
On Nov 2, some of the families joined the Israeli journalists’ appeal to lift the gag order. “These people have been living on a roller coaster of rumours and half-truths,” said their lawyer, Ms Dana Pugach.
“For the last year, they have been waiting to hear any intelligence or any information about negotiations for the release of those hostages. If some of that information had been stolen from army sources then we think that the families have the right to learn about any relevant detail.”
In another session on Nov 3 about the probe by the Shin Bet domestic security service, police and the military, the court ordered that one suspect be released, while keeping others in remand, according to Israeli Channel 13 News.
Asked about the investigation, Bild said it does not comment on its sources. “The authenticity of the document known to us was confirmed by the IDF immediately after publication,” it said.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023,
