News / Palestine

Pro-Palestinian hacker group breaches phone of former Israeli PM Bennett

Wednesday, 17 December 2025 4:13 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 17 December 2025 4:13 PM ]

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett (Photo by AFP)

The pro-Palestinian hacker group Handala says it has infiltrated the personal cellular device of former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, accessing sensitive documents and personal communications.

In a Wednesday statement, the Handala group, whose name is borrowed from a symbol of Palestinian rejectionism of the Zionist regime’s existence, said they managed to gain remote access to Bennett’s cellphone and hack into his iPhone 13 device.

The digital infiltration was dubbed “Operation Octopus,” apparently in reference to Bennett’s past remarks about Iran being the “head of the octopus” and spearheading the anti-Israel coalition in West Asia.

“You once prided yourself on being a leading light of cybersecurity and displayed your expertise to the world,” Handala said in its statement, mocking Bennett’s previous career as a cybersecurity company executive.

“And even so, how ironic that your iPhone 13 fell so easily into the hands of Handala,” the group added.

“Despite all of your pride and boasting, your digital fortress is nothing more than a paper wall waiting to be broken.”

Handala hack: How a shadowy hacker group infiltrated Israeli spy, military networks

A series of cyber attacks by pro-Palestine hacker group Handala have in recent months targeted key Israeli regime facilities, resulting in the leak of sensitive military and intelligence data.

Alongside its statement, the group published a series of files said to have been extracted from the phone, including a contact list with names of senior Israeli officials, internal communications, sensitive documents, and personal photographs.

Among the documents exposed in the leak are drafts of memos and letters, some dated July 2025. Additionally, political communications were released, including internal criticism of so-called security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The leak also included documents with the names of senior Israeli officials, including far-right minister of settlements and national missions Orit Strock, and foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar.

In its statement, Handala underlined that the breach represented not just a technological accomplishment but also an element of psychological warfare, describing the information security of senior Israeli officials as “fragile.”

The group urged journalists to reach out to them on the social media platform X for further resources.

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