An Israeli who had never served in the Armed Forces was accused of impersonating a soldier and stealing weaponsafter joining an Army unit and joining the fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Roi Yifrach, 35, took advantage of the chaotic situation following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 to join combat operations and steal large quantities of military equipment, including weapons, ammunition and sensitive communications equipment, according to the indictment filed Sunday. .
Israeli media reported that This man spent time fighting in Gaza And till appeared in a photo with the Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, during one of the ruler’s visits to the soldiers on the ground.
Yifrach headed to southern Israel on October 7 and presented himself, at different times, as a combat soldier in elite counterterrorism units, a bomb disposal specialist and a member of the Shin Bet internal security service, according to the indictment.
Police arrested Yifrach on December 17 and found in his possession large quantities of weapons, grenades, walkie-talkiesa ‘drone’, uniforms and other military equipment.
Eitan Sabag, Yifrach’s lawyer, told Israel’s Channel 12 that Yifrach traveled to the south to help as a paramedic with a first aid organization and fought bravely to defend Israel for more than two months.
“He was helping people, he helped rescue people, all under fire, at the same time he was fighting terrorists,” Sabag noted.
Police also arrested four other people, including a police officer, in cases related to gun theft.
The most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas was triggered after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli territory on October 7 of last year, massacring 1,140 people, mostly civilians and including around 400 soldiers, according to official figures. from Tel Aviv.
In retaliation, Israel, which has vowed to eliminate the Palestinian movement, launched a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, where, according to the local government, more than 22,000 people – mostly women, children and adolescents – have already been killed and injured. . more than 57 thousand, mostly civilians.
Source: TSF
