Israeli indicted for impersonating soldier, stealing weapons

Israeli prosecutors filed criminal charges on Sunday against a man accused of impersonating a soldier to join the Gaza war, of stealing munitions and, according to media, of posing for a frontline picture with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel was blindsided by an Oct. 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas militants, with security forces often organising themselves spontaneously in the field to repel the infiltrators and mount a counter-offensive.
According to the indictment brought in Tel Aviv District Court, defendant Roi Yifrah never served in the Israeli military but nonetheless managed to make his way into the war zones by pretending to be a member of an elite Shin Bet combat unit.
Shin Bet is Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
The top-rated Channel 12 TV aired a photograph of what it said was the 35-year-old, in full battle gear, posing with other soldiers alongside Netanyahu at a helicopter landing site.