Israeli security service chief's brother is accused of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court on Thursday indicted a brother of the chief of Israel’s security service for smuggling tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes into war-ravaged Gaza Strip at a time when getting aid into the territory was difficult and many Palestinians were going hungry.

The indictment of Bezalel Zini is the latest in a burgeoning scandal implicating more than a dozen people, many of them Israeli reserve soldiers, of personally profiting from the Israel-Hamas war and delivering goods into Gaza that could potentially benefit the militant group.

His brother, Shin Bet chief David Zini, has not been implicated in the scandal.

Israel accuses Hamas of running a black market in Gaza and has tightly controlled the entrance of aid into the territory, saying the measures are needed to prevent the militants from siphoning off aid and taxing goods.

Even as famine was declared in parts of Gaza in the summer of 2025, Israel’s military was restricting the amount of food and other supplies entering the territory. Throughout the war, it banned entry of cigarettes to Gaza, sending prices of tobacco skyrocketing. At the height of the war, an individual cigarette could cost over $80.

According to the indictment and a prosecutors’ statement, Bezalel Zini pocketed some 365,000 shekels (about $117,000) in the scheme. At least 13 other people have also been indicted The men are charged with “aiding the enemy in wartime, financing terror activity, fraud and bribery.”

Zini’s lawyer, Assaf Klein, did not immediately comment after the indictment Thursday but had last week denied his client's was involved in smuggling.

According to the indictment, at the time of the smuggling, Zini was serving as a military reservist in charge of logistics for the “Uriah” team, a unit that demolished buildings inside Gaza. The position gave him a special permit allowing him to bring vehicles into Gaza.

Zini is accused of smuggling some 14 cartons of cigarettes through the Sufa crossing between southern Gaza and Israel, which was closed to humanitarian supply traffic throughout the war. The indictment further claims that Hamas earned millions of dollars from cigarette smuggling throughout the war, and that Zini’s shipments could have aided the enemy.

“The defendants and their accomplices knew that the smuggled goods could reach terrorist elements, including Hamas,” said the prosecutor’s statement.

The smuggling began in summer of 2025. It is unclear how long it lasted, according to the indictment. The smuggling ring ferried cigarettes, tobacco, mobile phones and other goods into Gaza, and its members divided profits from the sales.

Coordinating with other suspects, the indictment alleges Zini used permits to smuggle the goods across the border by misleading soldiers by claiming they were for military and security purposes.

The prosecutor’s statement said its office has filed a request to seize the defendant’s property, including vehicles, real estate and money.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed David Zini, a former military general, as the Shin Bet chief in May 2025, after he moved to fire the agency’s former chief, Ronen Bar, blaming his agency for failures in the lead-up to Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

The agency is at the forefront of Israel’s battle against Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.

Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, contributed to this report.