Leak case timeline shows foreign reports dovetailed with PM’s claims against hostage deal

On Sunday, a judge revealed that Eli Feldstein, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was arrested last week on suspicion of removing sensitive info from an Israel Defense Forces database and leaking it to a news outlet.

According to the suspicions, Feldstein was involved in leaking a document to the German tabloid Bild ostensibly showing Hamas as unwilling to reach a hostage release deal in Gaza.

A second story, published and later removed by the Jewish Chronicle, alleged that Hamas would try to smuggle terrorists and hostages out of Gaza to Iran via Egypt.

According to the court, the leaks in the case are alleged to have damaged efforts to secure the release of hostages in Gaza. Ninety-seven hostages kidnapped on October 7 remain in the Strip, many of them still alive, along with four others held there for around a decade.

Critics say the the Bild and Jewish Chronicle reports dovetail neatly with Netanyahu talking points at the time, which sought to play up the importance of Israel’s demand for soldiers to remain stationed inside Gaza while placing blame on Hamas for the lack of progress on a hostage release and ceasefire.

Netanyahu is not thought to be a suspect in the affair and no evidence of a direct connection has been presented. The Prime Minister’s Office has distanced itself from Feldstein.

Here is a timeline of major events related to the case known so far:

October 2023:  Eli Feldstein is brought in by the Prime Minister’s Office to help liaison with military reporters following the October 7 Hamas massacre and the launching of a military campaign in Gaza, according to reports in Hebrew-language media. Feldstein had previously worked as a spokesman in National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s office, and prior to that was a senior officer in the Israel Defense Force’s spokesperson unit.

According to reports, Feldstein fails a polygraph test and is denied security clearance. It is unclear if he was directly employed by the PMO or simply worked alongside it.

April-May 2024: An internal Hamas document recommending that the terror group drag out the war in Gaza rather than seeking a ceasefire and hostage deal, in order to sow divisions within Israel, makes its way to the IDF. The army will later say the document is unremarkable and identical to other papers it had found in Gaza.

May 31: US President Joe Biden announces the outline for a staged hostage deal based on what he says is an Israeli offer, bolstering efforts to reach an agreement. There is no mention of troops remaining stationed inside the Philadelphi Corridor, a strategic strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border that Israel says is a major smuggling route.

August: Despite high hopes, intensive diplomacy and international pressure, a deal to free the hostages remains elusive. Among the sticking points are Israel’s demand that any truce be temporary and that soldiers continue to be posted along the Philadelphi Corridor.

Critics in Israel accuse Netanyahu of complicating the talks by introducing the Philadelphi demand, and some question how committed he is to the negotiations, with the prospect of facing a political reckoning looming once the war ends. Members of his coalition, including Ben Gvir, also put pressure on Netanyahu, threatening to bolt the government if a hostage-ceasefire deal is inked.

August 29: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant gets in a heated argument with Netanyahu over the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor, with Netanyahu saying he would prioritize holding the area over freeing hostages, according to a Channel 12 news report. Gallant joins other senior officers in arguing that the border can be policed even if Israeli troops aren’t stationed there.

September 1: The bodies of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi are found in a Gaza tunnel. According to the military, the six were found with signs of violence showing they had been executed a day or two earlier as troops closed in on the location.

The discovery heightens doubts about the wisdom of relying on rescue operations to save hostages and re-energizes protests pressuring Netanyahu and his government to seal a deal to free the remaining captives while they are still alive, even if it means halting the military offensive.

September 4: At a press conference for foreign press, Netanyahu emphasizes the importance of holding the Philadelphi Corridor, saying it could be used to bring weapons in and to spirit hostages out of the Strip.

“They can easily smuggle hostages out here to the Sinai desert in Egypt, they disappear,” he says. “They don’t even have to go underground. They disappear in the Sinai and then they end up in Iran or in Yemen. They’re gone forever.”

“You need something to squeeze [Hamas], to prevent them, to put pressure on them to release the remaining hostages. So if you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to control the Philadelphi Corridor,” he adds.

September 5: The London-based Jewish Chronicle publishes an article claiming a document uncovered in the Gaza Strip proves that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is planning to smuggle himself and some hostages out of Gaza to Egypt via the Philadelphi Corridor and from there to Iran.

The report is picked up by some right-wing Hebrew media outlets and shared on social media by Netanyahu’s son, Yair.

Netanyahu appears on US network Fox News, where he reprises some of the claims about the importance of holding Philadelphi. “It prevents Gaza from becoming this Iranian terror enclave again, which can threaten our existence, but it’s also the way to prevent them from smuggling hostages that they keep through the ceasefire into Egypt, into the Sinai, where they could disappear, and then they’ll end up in Iran or in Yemen, and they’re lost forever,” Netanyahu says.

He also claims that reports on progress toward a deal are a “false narrative,” and blames Hamas for holding up the talks: “They don’t agree to anything: Not to the Philadelphi Corridor, not to the keys of exchanging hostages for jailed terrorists, not to anything.”

September 6: German tabloid Bild publishes an expose claiming that a document found by troops on Sinwar’s computer in Gaza shows that Hamas is indifferent to seeing the ongoing war end quickly, instead prioritizing maintaining the terror group’s military capabilities and “exhausting” Israel’s military.

The report claims Hamas is following a strategy employing psychological warfare against the families of hostages and others, sowing divisions within Israeli society.

September 8: Netanyahu mentions the Bild report at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting, saying it is based on an official Hamas document and describing protests demanding a hostage deal as a “Hamas trap.”

That same day, the IDF announces that it has launched an internal investigation into the leak of documents to Bild, calling it “a serious offense.”

September 10: IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari officially denies that the army has any knowledge of the supposed intelligence the Jewish Chronicle story was based on. The comment follows several reports in which defense officials described the claims as likely baseless.

September 12: The IDF takes reporters on a tour of southern Gaza and debunks claims that tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border can still be used for smuggling, raising doubts about the necessity of holding on to the Philadelphi Corridor.

September 14: The Jewish Chronicle removes its story on Sinwar’s smuggling plans and all others by writer Elon Perry, wrapping up an internal investigation launched following questions about Perry’s background that arose alongside doubts about the reliability of his reporting. “We were not satisfied with some of his claims,” the newspaper writes.

In a statement, Perry says he refused to divulge his source to the JC and denies being a messenger for Netanyahu.

October 27: Feldstein is arrested in a 4 a.m. raid related to an ongoing investigation, involving the police, IDF and Shin Bet, which had remained under wraps until that point, of the alleged theft and leaking of one or more classified documents from IDF databases. Three others, who have yet to be identified, are also detained. Investigators, reportedly masked, raid the homes of the suspects.

October 31: Netanyahu’s office releases a statement saying it has demanded a gag order on the “secret case” be lifted. “The ongoing gag order is providing cover for the deliberate and malicious defamation of the Prime Minister’s Office,” it says.

November 1: Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Judge Menachem Mizrahi partially lifts a gag order in the case, revealing that several suspects have been arrested in a case involving the illicit use of classified materials. Mizrahi writes that the leak could have harmed the war effort.

The Prime Minister’s Office issues a statement asserting that no one on its staff has been arrested as part of the probe, in response to media reports linking his bureau to the case.

A source is quoted by Channel 12 news saying the suspect had nevertheless worked closely with Netanyahu, and several outlets publish blurred pictures showing the two at meetings or events.

“The moment [the scandal] erupted, Netanyahu threw him under the bus and even lies by saying he doesn’t work for him,” the Channel 12 source is quoted saying.

November 2: The PMO denies that the Bild leak originated with it and downplays the seriousness of the case and its ramifications.

“The published document never reached the Prime Minister’s Office from the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Prime Minister learned about it from the media,” the PMO says. “The document only helped the effort to return the hostages, and certainly did not harm it.”

The statement also puts distance between Netanyahu and the suspect, noting that he “never participated in security discussions, was not exposed or received classified information, and did not take part in secret visits.”

November 3: Judge Mizrahi unseals further details about the case, naming Feldstein as the civilian suspect, alongside three others connected to the defense establishment who remain unnamed. Feldstein, who has been barred from meeting with a lawyer, is also remanded for two more days.

Mizrahi also confirms reports that the case involves suspicions that the document leak harmed efforts to free the hostages.

The Prime Minister’s Office declines to clarify questions about Feldstein’s role.

Reacting to the revelation, National Unity party head Benny Gantz says: “If sensitive security information is stolen and becomes a tool in a political survival campaign, this is not only a criminal offense, it is a national crime.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issues a statement saying the information revealed in the case “indicates that those close to the prime minister acted in a manner that endangers national security in an attempt to thwart the return of the hostages.”

November 4: Hebrew media reports reveal that an IDF officer was arrested as part of the investigation.

A report by the Kan public broadcaster claims that the leaked document cited by Bild was not found by troops in Gaza searching Sinwar’s computer but rather via “another type of intelligence.”

According to the report, prosecutors fear that the leak could reveal key intelligence collection methods to Hamas.