The hacker group "Handala," operating under Iranian sponsorship and identified with the "resistance" axis, made a rare claim today (Wednesday): they say they successfully infiltrated the personal phone of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
According to the hackers, the infiltration was part of "Operation Octopus," a campaign led by the group.
The hackers, who have previously targeted Israeli government and military infrastructures, released a statement with direct messages to Bennett-mocking his security capabilities and describing the breach as a "simple conquest" of an iPhone 13 that was supposedly in his possession.
To support their claims, 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 photos.
Among the leaked documents are drafts of official letters, some dated July 2025. Additionally, political communications were released, including internal criticism of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and claims that he poses a "political risk" to the coalition.
The leak also included documents with the names of senior ministers-such as Minister Orit Strock and Minister Gideon Sa'ar-pertaining to policies on security prisoners and economic tools against Hamas, like canceling banknotes in the Palestinian Authority territories.
In their statement, the group emphasized that the breach was not only a technological achievement but also part of psychological warfare, describing the information security of senior Israeli officials as "fragile." The group encouraged journalists to contact them on the X platform (Twitter) for additional materials.