An Iranian-linked hacking group on Sunday claimed it had breached the mobile phone of a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, days after asserting it hacked the Telegram account of former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Israeli officials said the claim was being examined and that no breach had been confirmed.
The group, known as Handala, said it had hacked the phone of Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff and the designated ambassador to Britain. In a statement posted online, the hackers alleged they had accessed Braverman’s device and warned Netanyahu’s inner circle that sensitive information was exposed.
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An image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief of staff Tzachi Braverman with US President Donald Trump released by Iranian-linked hacker group Handala
An official in the Prime Minister’s Office said no breach of Braverman’s phone had been identified and that the reports were under review.
The hackers made sweeping allegations of possessing encrypted communications and other sensitive material but provided no evidence to support the claims. They said additional information would be released later. The group also posted photographs of Braverman with U.S. Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The claims surfaced amid renewed attention to the so-called “Qatargate” affair, in which Netanyahu advisers Jonatan Urich and Israel “Srulik” Einhorn, along with former military spokesman Eli Feldstein, are suspects. Feldstein has said Braverman informed him of the investigation and claimed he could help shut it down. The hackers said they held incriminating material related to the case, without providing proof.
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An image of Braverman with former US president Joe Biden released by Iranian-linked hacker group Handala
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An image of Braverman with Trump, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's and his wife Sara in the background, released by Iranian-linked hacker group Handala
About a week and a half earlier, the same group claimed responsibility for hacking Bennett’s mobile phone in what it dubbed Operation Octopus. Bennett’s office initially denied the phone had been compromised, but the hackers later released images, documents and thousands of phone numbers across multiple pages, including numbers linked to French President Emmanuel Macron, United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi.
Bennett later acknowledged that his Telegram account had been breached. Israeli authorities have not publicly confirmed the authenticity of the hackers’ latest claims and said investigations were ongoing.