An IDF major was indicted in military court on Wednesday for allegedly using his position near the Gaza border to smuggle a truckload of unauthorized goods into the enclave, bypass military checks, and bring an Israeli citizen into Gaza to complete the transfer.
The officer, whose identifying details are barred from publication, was charged with aiding the enemy, taking a bribe, aggravated smuggling, attempted aggravated smuggling, fraud and breach of trust, obstruction of justice, and conduct unbecoming.
He has been in custody since January 26, according to the indictment, which was filed after a joint investigation by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Israel Police’s Southern District Central Unit, the Military Police, and customs investigators.
According to the indictment, the officer was a career major and deputy battalion commander. After the battalion commander was wounded in July 2025, the officer filled his place as sector commander near Kerem Shalom. It was that position, prosecutors allege, that allowed the plan to move forward.
The indictment says a Palestinian resident of Hebron planned in December 2025 to smuggle a truck into Gaza carrying mobile phones, cigarettes, tobacco, car batteries, electric bicycles, laptops, routers, and other goods worth millions of shekels.
In early January, the plan reached a group of Israeli citizens, some from Bir al-Maksur and Rahat, who allegedly agreed to help carry it out in exchange for large sums of money. Separate indictments were filed against several Israeli civilians in the Haifa District Court, according to the joint IDF and Shin Bet announcement.
On January 5, prosecutors allege, the officer met two civilian acquaintances in Bir al-Maksur, where they formed a plan to smuggle unauthorized and unsupervised goods from Israel into Gaza while exploiting the officer’s military and public position.
The indictment says the officer was told he owed millions of shekels to a northern criminal figure in connection with claims related to smuggling goods into Gaza. He allegedly accepted a bribe related to the repayment of the debt but refused additional profit.
Shortly before 6 a.m. on January 10, according to the indictment, the officer contacted a reserve major on duty near Kerem Shalom and falsely told him that he would soon bring a truck through the crossing for operational purposes. He asked that the truck not be stopped or photographed.
The reserve officer, unaware of the alleged plan, believed him and ordered military police to open the crossing when the officer arrived.
At around 6:30 a.m., an Israeli citizen driving the truck reached the area near the crossing. The officer was allegedly waiting for him in a military vehicle provided by the army, signaled the driver to follow him, and led the truck into Gaza, with soldiers allowing it through.
After crossing the border into what the indictment calls the “red area,” the driver left the truck in a Gaza-side truck lot and returned to Israel in the officer’s military vehicle.
The truck’s presence later aroused the suspicion of soldiers in the operations room responsible for the sector. Prosecutors allege that the officer continued the false presentation, telling soldiers and officers that the truck was there as part of legitimate military activity, and ordered the forces to move away from the truck and leave the matter to him personally.
After the forces withdrew, according to the indictment, the officer photographed the truck through IDF observation cameras and sent the image to one of the civilian participants to show that the truck was still in place and unsupervised.
The plan then ran into a problem: the Gazan driver who was supposed to drive the truck deeper into Gaza refused to arrive. According to the indictment, the officer and several civilian participants then agreed that the officer would bring the Israeli truck driver into Gaza a second time, and that the driver would take the truck farther into the Strip himself.
At around 9:28 a.m., the driver got into the truck and drove into Gaza, crossing the “yellow line” along which IDF forces were deployed and continuing into Hamas-controlled territory until he reached the Deir al-Balah area. He remained in Gaza until the evening of January 12, when he was removed from the Strip with the assistance of a soldier whose details are unknown to prosecutors.
IDF officer abandoned Israeli citizen in Gaza
Prosecutors allege that the officer knowingly brought an Israeli citizen into enemy territory, abandoned him there, and took no action to report his presence, check his condition, or return him to Israel. The indictment says the officer knew, or at least shut his eyes to the possibility, that the Israeli citizen could be kidnapped or harmed by terror organizations or other hostile actors.
The indictment further alleges that the officer knew the goods were being brought into Gaza without authorization or supervision, and that they were intended to be handed to Palestinians in circumstances that could allow them to reach Hamas or others acting on its behalf.
Prosecutors wrote in the indictment that control over goods entering Gaza had become a matter of “supreme importance” to Hamas since the beginning of the war. The indictment also states that tobacco and cigarettes became a central category of smuggled goods into Gaza, bringing Hamas hundreds of millions of shekels since the beginning of the war.
According to the indictment, the goods listed in one aggravated smuggling count were worth NIS 1,739,292, with unpaid purchase tax and VAT totaling NIS 7,359,579. A separate attempted aggravated smuggling count concerns 111 mobile phones, valued at NIS 39,371, that were seized by the Tax Authority.
After the smuggling, prosecutors allege, the officer broke and smashed the phone that had been given to him for the operation, intending to destroy evidence.
In their joint announcement, the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police said they view smuggling into Gaza with great severity, especially when those involved are soldiers in regular or reserve service.
Source:
www.jpost.com
