From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 5, 2026
IDF: Suspected Gaza smuggling phenomenon is ‘major risk to state security’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israeli military issues its first public comment on the Gaza smuggling case involving the brother of the Shin Bet chief and 14 other suspects.
“The IDF views very gravely the phenomenon of smuggling into the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a major risk to state security. If IDF personnel in the standing army or in reserve service are involved in these activities, the matter is even more severe,” the military says in a statement.
The IDF also says it is unaware of an incident described in today’s indictment against Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, according to which he claimed to have an acquaintance in the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 8200 who could “help ensure that their details would not appear in the system.”
“Following publications regarding the suspicion of involvement of a member of Unit 8200 in the indictment filed with the district court, we note that the IDF is not familiar with the incident in question,” the military says.
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