Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leaked secret military informations

14/7/2025 6:08

An aide to Israeli Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges

pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general said on Sunday, for

allegedly leaking top secret military information during

Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any

wrongdoing in the case which legal authorities began

investigating in late 2024. The prime minister has described

probes against Urich and other aides as a witch-hunt.



Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement that

Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the

Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu

and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli

hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August

2024.

The hostages' deaths had sparked mass protests in Israel and

outraged hostage families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing

ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for

political reasons.



Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said

that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the

militant group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been

reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than

30 captives that Hamas was set to free were a ceasefire to be

reached, according to a defence official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the

hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern

Gaza.



It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect

ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's

allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.



Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does

not comment on its sources and that its article relied on

authentic documents.



A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and

included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed

attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect

negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.