By Galit Altstein and Ethan Bronner, Bloomberg News The Tribune Content Agency
Two months ago, when a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas seemed close, a new obstacle arose: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his troops must hold the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent Hamas from rearming and smuggling out Israeli hostages.
Many in Israel's security establishment dismissed the demand and accused Netanyahu of avoiding a deal to keep the war going.
Yet within days, two journals - Germany's Bild and London's Jewish Chronicle - published articles based on documents that supported Netanyahu's point, and suggested that Hamas was obstructing a deal.
Those reports have since come under harsh scrutiny and triggered a rare top-level investigation accusing officials, including a Netanyahu aide, of leaking classified documents and exaggerating their significance. There have been arrests, yet a judicial gag order has limited the publication of details so far.
Opposition leaders and liberal commentators say it's the latest example of Netanyahu's manipulation of public discourse around the war in Gaza to stay in power. This time, they say, he's jeopardized national security.
Netanyahu and his supporters have a different interpretation: that the probe is part of a deep-state witch hunt aimed at discrediting him and his policies.
"It's ridiculous to say that the publication of an article sympathetic to Israel in a German newspaper, describing a previously published, authorized document, caused any damage to the negotiations or to Israel's security," Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.
Netanyahu on Friday also said the gag order served as "cover for the malicious and intentional denigration" of his office.
The judge in the case partially lifted the order on Friday, revealing a "joint investigation by the Shin Bet, the Israel Police and the IDF concerning a suspected breach of security involving the illegal distribution of classified information."
That breach "compromises sensitive information and its sources, and the achievement of the goals of the war in Gaza. The investigation is in progress," the judge added.
Another court hearing scheduled for Sunday may make more information available. One of those arrested appears to be a person, who hasn't been identified, hired by Netanyahu to deal with the media. The person allegedly failed to pass mandatory security clearance but continued to have access to the highest levels of government, according to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan.
Israel, like many countries, is no stranger to politically motivated leaks. This one is different, however, because it's sparked a high-level probe, suggesting that it may have compromised national interests.
"This investigation would not have been launched if it weren't clear that sources are at stake and lives are in danger," said Yoram Cohen, a former head of the Shin Bet internal security service, speaking Sunday on Army Radio. "The test is whether the publication can disrupt an operation or reveal to the enemy which sources of information are being tracked."
Three documents appear to be at the center of the investigation, according to Israeli media reports. The first was presented by Netanyahu at a press conference in early September.
That was shortly after six hostages were murdered by Hamas in a Rafah tunnel, and a stunned Israeli public pressured the government to conclude a deal to save those still in Hamas custody. Around the same time, Netanyahu toughened his position, and insisted that Israel must remain in the Philadelphi corridor, along the Egypt-Gaza border, and in the Rafah crossing.
Addressing the public at the time, he presented an Arabic-language document he said was the outline of Hamas' psychological warfare strategy that was found in a "tunnel of senior Hamas officials."
The document said Hamas was releasing more footage of the hostages to pressure Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who opposed staying in Rafah, and blaming Netanyahu for the Oct. 7 attacks.
A second document reinforced Netanyahu's claim that then Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar - who was killed by Israeli forces in October - would use an Israeli withdrawal from the Egyptian border to smuggle Israeli hostages to Egypt and perhaps Iran or Yemen.
A third was said to have been found on Sinwar's computer, laying out instructions on how to handle negotiations in a way that would lead to deadlock. Netanyahu referenced the document at a cabinet meeting after its publication, and said it "reveals Hamas' plans to wage war until further notice, until Israel is defeated."
According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli intelligence doesn't know who wrote the first document, which doesn't match the handwriting of any senior Hamas leader. The document allegedly from Sinwar, the newspaper reported, had been manipulated to present Hamas' stand as more hawkish than it was, and was likely written by mid-level officials rather than Hamas leadership.
Netanyahu denied that publication of any of the documents caused damage to the negotiations or national security. He and those close to him blame the Shin Bet, military and police for opening an inquiry due to false motives.
Tensions between Netanyahu and Israel's security chiefs have been simmering since he returned to office two years ago, and especially since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks which he blamed on them. Netanyahu has declined to launch a formal investigation into the attacks, which caught Israel off guard and led to the killing of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 250 by Hamas militants who stormed across the border.
The war launched by Israel in Gaza has so far claimed the lives of 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and fighters. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and other governments.