Khaberni - The Israeli Public Prosecutor, on Thursday, filed an indictment against the brother of the head of the Israeli Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), including "assisting the enemy in wartime," based on suspicions of smuggling cigarettes into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Betzalel Zini, brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, is accused alongside others of "assisting the enemy in wartime, dealing with property for terrorist purposes, obtaining money by fraud under aggravated circumstances, and receiving bribes," according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
Betzalel Zini is a member of the Uria force, which uses heavy bulldozers to destroy Palestinian homes in Gaza, as part of the genocide that Israel began in October 2023 and lasted for two years.
The Ministry of Justice clarified in a statement that "among the main prohibited goods smuggled into the sector were tobacco and cigarettes, and hundreds of millions of shekels have been funneled into the coffers of Hamas since the beginning of the war," according to those allegations.
It added that the smuggling was conducted "by misleading the soldiers at the crossings into the sector, making them believe that the accused were entering as part of their military service and for security purposes."
It is suspected that Zini—a reservist in the Israeli army—smuggled about 14 boxes of cigarettes into Gaza on three occasions, in return for receiving 365,000 shekels (about $117,433).
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that indictments were directed against both Abiel Ben David (31 years old) and Dov Halperin (38 years old).
It continued that on Wednesday, indictments were directed against 12 other individuals involved in the case stipulating that the smuggled goods included packs of cigarettes, iPhones, batteries, communication cables, car parts, and other goods worth millions of shekels.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice described the smuggling operation, which falls within a broader smuggling network, as "a severe case of organized, systematic, and sophisticated smuggling of various goods into the Gaza Strip for profit," noting that the smuggling operations began in the summer of 2025, while the war was still raging in Gaza.
The Shin Bet chief, who took office on October 5, 2025, has not commented on the accusations involving his brother.
With American support, the Israeli genocide in Gaza resulted in about 72,000 Palestinian martyrs and more than 171,000 wounded, most of them children and women, and destruction affecting 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, effective since October 10, 2025, Israel prevents the entry of the agreed quantities of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where about 2.4 million Palestinians live, including 1.5 million displaced persons, in catastrophic conditions.
