Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leak

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general said on Sunday, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war on Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

The prime minister has described probes against Urich and other aides as a witch hunt.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to the German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the killing of six Israeli captives in Gaza in late August 2024. Hamas said they were killed in Israeli air strikes.

The captives' deaths had sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged captive families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks for political reasons.