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

Jerusalem: 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.

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.