Charges filed against 12 suspects in Gaza smuggling case
Prosecutors say Bezalel Zini, Shin Bet chief’s brother, who is slated to also be indicted, took NIS 15,000 to transfer goods to Gaza in his vehicle during IDF reserve duty
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State prosecutors filed charges on Wednesday against 12 suspects, among them IDF reservists, accused of taking part in a major smuggling ring that trafficked goods into the Gaza Strip.
The defendants were indicted in the Beersheba District Court for assisting the enemy during wartime, financing terror activity, fraud and bribery for their alleged smuggling of goods into the enclave.
The alleged smuggling ring is linked to Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, who is thought to have helped the network’s members smuggle cigarettes, taking advantage of his IDF reserve service in the Gaza Strip.
Zini is expected to be among those indicted on Thursday.
The items allegedly smuggled include cigarettes, iPhones, batteries, telecommunications cables and car parts, which are worth millions of shekels in total. Some of the goods in question are classified as “dual-use” items, meaning they can be used by Hamas for terror activities.
The indictments on Wednesday were filed against brothers Eliran Elgrably, 38, of Kiryat Gat and Avi Elgrably, 41, of Kiryat Ata; Imad al-Din Abu Mukh, 55, of Baqa al-Gharbiya; Ofer Sankar, 41; Yosef Yochananov, 39, Yuri Yakubov, 42, Menachem Abutbul, 39, and Nadav Halfon, 30, all of Kiryat Gat; Meir Levi, 26, of Beitar Illit; Oshri Dahan, 39, of Talmei Eliyahu; Yaron Peretz, 52, of Noam; and Attar Even, 37, of Shaked.
The defendants acted “to smuggle prohibited goods into the Strip in a systematic and sophisticated manner, exploiting vulnerabilities at crossing points and military activity in the area, while presenting false representations of entry into the Strip as part of legitimate security activity,” prosecutors said Wednesday.
Throughout August and September 2025, the defendants smuggled 26 cases of cigarettes into Gaza for a total of NIS 3.9 million, prosecutors said, just one of many illegal deliveries. In total, the Elgrably brothers made at least NIS 6.8 million from their smuggling efforts, while Abu Mukh received at least NIS 3 million in profits, prosecutors said.
In total, prosecutors detailed 15 smuggling attempts, most of which were successful, between August and December 2025, involving mostly cigarettes but also hundreds of iPhones and medical equipment.
On December 19, 2025, the charge sheet said that an attempted smuggling effort of batteries, cellphones, stovetops, gas burners and cigarettes was thwarted by IDF troops who stopped the vehicle inside Gaza with Yakubov, Dahan, Yochananov and Levi, all in IDF uniform. The four were arrested that day, as were the Elgrably brothers and Peretz, their business partner.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that at one point, Abutbul offered bribes to Zini and his comrade, Aviel Ben David — who were serving together in reserve duty in Gaza — to take part in the operation.
According to the prosecution, Zini was the commander of a team within the IDF’s Gaza Division that operated heavy engineering equipment in the Strip. Due to his role, Zini was authorized to bring convoys of equipment into the Strip.
Both Zini and Ben David accepted NIS 15,000 each to take part in the smuggling, the prosecutors said. Abutbul allegedly transferred the goods in question into Zini’s vehicle near Kibbutz Sufa and Zini and Ben David drove into Gaza and unloaded the goods there, they said.
The Shin Bet said Wednesday that throughout the war, “and even more so since the beginning of the ceasefire,” Hamas has been working to rebuild its capabilities and strengthen its governance in the Strip, using money from smuggled goods.
Israel has banned the entry of cigarettes and other tobacco products into Gaza during the war, with officials saying that such products, when smuggled illegally, are sold for high prices on the black market and heavily taxed by Hamas.
Prosecutors said that “a major illicit commodity smuggled into the Strip is tobacco and cigarettes, which have brought Hamas a total of hundreds of millions of shekels into its pockets since the beginning of the war, helping it, among other things, maintain its economic survival and its grip on the territory.”
“Smuggling constitutes a significant threat to the security of the State of Israel, as it assists Hamas’s survival and governance,” the Shin Bet said. “It also poses a threat stemming from the possibility of using smuggling routes as a platform to advance offensive military activity in Israel and against our forces in the Gaza Strip.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.