A close relative of Israel’s new spy chief has been charged with smuggling contraband into Gaza, the latest in a series of arrests for bringing illicit goods inside the devastated territory.
David Zini’s family member was among a number of people arrested two weeks ago on suspicion of smuggling items including heavy-lift drones, phones, pesticides, electrical cables and batteries into Gaza. All such items are forbidden for their potential to reach Hamas.
The items were smuggled inside a truck carrying equipment for the demolition of buildings behind the so-called “yellow line”, controlled by Israel.
The Rafah border crossing has reopened for testing, with it expected to be fully operational on Monday
BASHAR TALEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGE
The case was made public over the weekend after judges at a southern Israeli court partially lifted a gag order.
On Sunday, the Rafah border crossing opened for the first time since May 2024 to “test and assess the operation of the crossing,” according to Cogat, the Israeli military arm in charge of Gazan civil affairs. On Monday, the crossing is expected to fully reopen in both directions.
Rafah, which Palestinians see as their gateway to the world, has been largely shut since it was seized by Israel in May 2024.
Few people will be allowed at first, and no goods will be allowed to cross. About 20,000 children and adults needing medical care are hoping to leave Gaza via the crossing, and thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to return home.
The border with Egypt is opening as part of phase two of the October ceasefire, championed by President Trump. It includes a multi-point plan to rehabilitate the territory after two years of intense warfare which has left about 70,000 people dead, a figure from the health authorities in Gaza which has also been accepted by Israel.
Israel has long held that Rafah is used as a hub for trafficking weapons, people and goods to Hamas. Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, insisted after the capture of the city that Israel maintain control of the nine miles along Gaza’s border with Egypt, including Rafah. Israel remains inside Rafah and insists on full oversight and security clearance on the people and goods coming in through the key crossing.
Binyamin Netanyahu
CHAIM GOLDBERG/EPA
It appears, however, that some of the smuggling threat comes from inside Israel. There has been an increasing trend of Israelis smuggling goods into Gaza both inside aid trucks and by flying drones over the border in return for money.
Most recently, police arrested three Bedouin residents of the Negev desert suspected of smuggling about 145 kilograms of hashish into Gaza inside sacks of flour along the Philadelphi route. Another technique is the use of unmanned drones to smuggle tobacco, drugs and boxes of goods including iPhones and even electric bikes. Drones fly in from Israel and land in the eastern areas of Rafah. At the height of the war, a single cigarette would sell for $30, but prices could swing widely.
Israel’s Channel 12, for example, was shown the location where an Israeli had hidden cartons of cigarettes in rubble for Palestinians living near the border to pick up.
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The industry of goods for cash has landed at the doorstep of the country’s security industry for the first time this month. The involvement of Zini’s relative meant the case is being investigated by the police, rather than the Shin Bet — usually in charge of internal security and counterintelligence — due to the conflict of interest between the head of the organisation and the main suspect. Judges in the Ashdod court, however, made clear that Zini was not involved in the smuggling.
Zini is Netanyahu’s controversial new pick to run the agency after the unceremonious and unprecedented firing of Ronen Bar. He is an agency outsider and messianic believer, part of a nationalist ultra-Orthodox group who seek to fulfil a divine right to the land of Israel through the creation of a religious state that expands the West Bank and Gaza.
His father, Rabbi Yosef Zini, initially violated the court gag order to deny the allegations against his family member as fabricated, politically motivated and intended to harm the family.
But the allegations could yet harm Zini’s role. Due to his controversial family ties, a special committee formed last September said that should a case involve serious wrongdoing, his term in office may be ended over a conflict of interest and damage to public trust.
Israel said on Sunday that it was terminating the humanitarian operations of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza after the international medical charity failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff. In December, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organisations, including MSF, from working in Gaza from March 1.