Israeli authorities are investigating suspicions of a leak of intelligence from Gaza by a Netanyahu aide

The alleged leak of classified Gaza documents linked to an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shaken Israeli politics and angered the families of hostages held by Hamas, who have been pushing for a deal to bring their loved ones home.

The details of the case were revealed slowly due to a gag order.

But the magistrate’s decision to partially lift the order provided initial insight into the case, which the court said compromised security sources and may have harmed Israel’s efforts to free the hostages.

“Secret and confidential intelligence information was extracted from Israeli army systems and exported illegally,” the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court ruled on Sunday, which could have caused “serious damage to the security of the state and posed a risk to the source of the information.”

The court noted that the leak of information could harm the release of the hostages.

Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing by staff in his office and said in a statement on Saturday that he only learned of the leaked document from the media.

The four suspects – one spokesman from Netanyahu’s entourage and three of them security personnel – could not be reached for comment.

Details of the document in question were published by the German newspaper Bild on September 6, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one of the media outlets that appealed to the court to overturn the ban.

The article, marked as exclusive, purported to outline the negotiating strategy of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Israel has been fighting in Gaza for more than a year.

Around that time, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt were brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that was supposed to include an agreement to release hostages held in Gaza.

But the talks broke down as Israel and Hamas traded blame for the impasse. The article in question echoed many of Netanyahu’s accusations against Hamas of deadlock.

It was published days after six Israeli hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. Their killings sparked mass protests in Israel and angered the families of the hostages, who accused Netanyahu of collapsing the ceasefire talks for political reasons.

On Saturday, some families joined the call of Israeli journalists to lift the ban.

“These people live on a roller coaster of rumors and half-truths,” said their lawyer, Dana Pugach.

“For the last year, they have been waiting for any intelligence or any information about negotiations to release these hostages. If some of this information was stolen from military sources, we believe the families have a right to know any relevant information. details,” she added.

At another hearing on Sunday dedicated to the investigation of the Shin Bet’s internal security service, the police and the military, the court ordered the release of one suspect and kept the others in custody, Haaretz reported.

Asked about the investigation, Bild said it would not comment on its sources. “The authenticity of the document known to us was confirmed by the Israeli army immediately after publication,” the message reads.

Reuters