A new serious security case in Israel was exposed on Tuesday evening by i24News, only two weeks after indictments were filed in the previous security affair that centered on the smuggling of cigarettes and other goods into Gaza.
According to the report, security officials are investigating serious suspicions that top Israeli criminal figures cooperated with foreign officials to operate a far more extensive organized smuggling network into the Gaza Strip than the previous case.
The focus of the investigation is the US headquarters in Kiryat Gat tasked with coordinating Gaza reconstruction. Members of Israeli crime organizations allegedly bribed foreign personnel at the facility in order to smuggle prohibited goods into Gaza—a development that could undermine sensitive security mechanisms and enrich both Israeli crime organizations and indirectly bolster Hamas via the smuggled supplies.
Items allegedly smuggled in the earlier smuggling case included cigarette cartons, iPhones, batteries, communication cables, and car parts. Security officials now worry that the new case— involving foreign personnel and alleged bribery at an international facility—signals an escalation in both the scale and sophistication of the smuggling networks.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
