Overview
- The State Attorney’s Office filed indictments against 12 defendants in Be’er Sheva District Court over an alleged scheme to profit by moving contraband into Gaza under a military guise, including the charge of assisting the enemy during wartime.
- Prosecutors say the goods included cigarette cartons, iPhones, batteries, cables, vehicle parts, and other items worth millions of shekels, with some defendants accused of using IDF uniforms, documents, and convoys to conceal the activity.
- Police informed the court that the investigation into Bezalel Zini is complete, a prosecutor’s statement was submitted, his detention was extended to Thursday, and prosecutors are expected to seek an indictment at that hearing.
- State Attorney Amit Isman ordered police to add assisting the enemy in wartime to the suspicions against Zini and two other soldiers, a far more severe offense than used in a recent comparable case.
- The court emphasized that Shin Bet Director David Zini is not implicated, as family members and political allies denounced the case as fabricated or politically driven, while security officials warned that such smuggling bolsters Hamas’s capacity.