Israeli police have arrested a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over allegedly leaking classified information to foreign media.
Opposition leaders say the intelligence was “faked,” and part of a ruse to thwart a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.
The investigation centers on allegations that the prime minister’s office promoted to foreign media the claim that Hamas was planning on smuggling hostages out of Gaza over the Egyptian border and creating divisions in Israeli society to pressure Netanyahu into a hostage release and ceasefire deal.
Eliezer Feldstein, who has been named by opposition politicians as an aide to Netanyahu, is among several people being interrogated over the leak of “classified and sensitive intelligence information,” according to court documents. A court order made public on Sunday said that information taken from the Israeli military’s systems and “illegally issued” may have damaged Israel’s ability to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
CNN is attempting to reach Feldstein for comment.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu denied that there have been leaks from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and that the “person in question never participated in security-related discussions,” apparently referring to Feldstein.
The PMO also downplayed the possibility that the leak impacted negotiations with Hamas over the release of hostages from Gaza, calling the claim “ridiculous.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday accused the prime minister’s office of leaking “faked secret documents to torpedo the possibility of a hostage deal – to shape a public opinion influence operation against the hostages’ families.”
Families of hostages held in Gaza have accused Netanyahu of repeatedly thwarting an agreement with Hamas, believing that an end to the Gaza war would force the prime minister to hold elections. Netanyahu is alleged to have, in the past, torpedoed agreements with 11th hour demands – something he denies.
