The documents that were leaked, the veracity of which have been called into question, supported Netanyahu’s case to add a tougher condition to Israel’s stance in negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. Critics of Netanyahu have accused him of sabotaging a deal and prolonging the war for political reasons.

An Israeli court partially lifted a gag order on Sunday, which identified Eliezer Feldstein as a suspect. Feldstein was hired last year to work as a spokesman in the prime minister’s office. Three other suspects in the case have not been named publicly.

This issue dates back to early September. A day after Israel announced that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, Netanyahu presented his demands for a ceasefire deal, which included a new provision — continued control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which is the strip of land along the Gaza-Egyptian border.

He argued that leaving the border could allow Hamas to smuggle senior leaders and hostages from Gaza to Egypt underground, and Netanyahu displayed a handwritten document in Arabic that he attributed to high-ranking Hamas members, which he claimed was found by Israeli forces in January.

Days later, the Jewish Chronicle, the British paper, published an article from a freelance journalist. In it, he reported that Israeli intelligence showed that now-slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing to flee Gaza by sneaking through the Philadelphi Corridor. The Israeli military said it could not corroborate the report, and the Jewish Chronicle later removed the story and others from the reporter.

A day later, the German outlet Bild published an article it said was based on a Hamas document detailing its strategy to inflict psychological warfare against Israel, including not reaching a deal to end the war.

Netanyahu’s critics have alleged that his office leaked fake intelligence to bolster his perspective on holding off on making a hostage deal.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday accused the prime minister’s office of leaking “faked secret documents to torpedo the possibility of a hostage deal — to shape a public opinion influence operation against the hostages’ families.”

“If Netanyahu knew, he is complicit in one of the most serious security offenses in the law book,” Lapid stated. “If he did not know that his close aides were stealing documents, operating spies within the IDF, forging documents, exposing intelligence sources, and passing secret documents to foreign newspapers in order to stop the hostage deal, what does he know?”

Netanyahu’s office has denied leaking information. 

Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages, whom they kidnapped over a year ago, and they, too, have refused to make concessions to get to a ceasefire deal. Hamas kidnapped about 250 people during the attack, about one-half of whom were released during a weeklong ceasefire deal in late November 2023.

2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Hamas has not released any hostages since the ceasefire deal, though Israeli forces have rescued some and killed a couple of hostages during attempted rescue missions.

Israeli forces killed Sinwar in early October, and U.S. officials expressed optimism for a possible ceasefire agreement if his successor was more willing to make a deal. It’s unclear whether a deal will happen, though Sinwar’s death at least brought the negotiating parties back to the mediating countries.