Israel: Revealing the involvement of military personnel and contractors in stealing millions of shekels from the heart of Gaza

Tel Aviv - Ofek News - The Israeli police announced the arrest of 21 suspects, including permanent members of the Israeli army, on suspicion of involvement in fraudulent operations worth millions of shekels while they were working in Gaza.

The suspects, some of whom were employees of civilian companies, were working in the Gaza Strip operating mechanical engineering equipment for the army. The 21 suspects were arrested at the conclusion of a secret investigation conducted over the past months on suspicion of receiving bribes and illegal funds, including fraud, money laundering, bribery and other crimes.

Among the 21 detainees, there are five resistance fighters. Today, the military police intend to request an extension of their detention in the military court. The rest are civilians.

The secret investigation reveals that contractors who came to carry out infrastructure work for the army in Gaza allegedly stole fuel worth millions of shekels, in addition to submitting fake invoices for work they did not complete or did not pay the full amount agreed upon in the field. It is also suspected that the resistance fighters linked the army to contractors in the field. A source in the investigation said: “The suspects took advantage of the chaos in Gaza to steal millions of shekels.”

On April 29, military prosecutors filed an indictment against a major on charges of aiding the enemy, receiving bribes, smuggling goods under aggravated circumstances, and other crimes, after he was arrested on suspicion of smuggling goods from Israel to Gaza — and even bringing an Israeli citizen he helped into the Strip.

Indictment: Under an initial agreement with several Israeli citizens, who were charged in the Haifa District Court, the officer on January 10 drove a truck into Gaza containing smuggled goods, including cell phones, cigarettes, car batteries, electric bicycles, laptops, network routers and other products - worth millions of shekels.

In February of last year, a number of defendants, including Shin Bet chief David Zinni's brother, Bezalel, were indicted on the extremely serious charge of aiding the enemy in times of war. According to the indictment, Zinni smuggled boxes of cigarettes into the Gaza Strip in exchange for 365,000 shekels, taking advantage of his position in the reserve forces.