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An Israeli government panel issued warnings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and four others on Monday as part of a yearslong inquiry into a multibillion-dollar purchase of submarines and missile boats from Germany, an episode regarded as the worst corruption scandal in the country’s history. In a statement, the panel said that Mr. Netanyahu had endangered Israel’s security and bypassed official channels with the purchase, during a previous term as prime minister. It was not clear if Mr. Netanyahu himself was suspected of corruption in the case, but the panel said it issued the warning to give him and the others — including a former defense minister and a former head of Mossad — the opportunity to respond. The prime minister defended himself, saying in a statement from his office that the submarines were “a central pillar of Israel’s national security.”
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The Israeli military confirmed the death of a soldier who disappeared on Oct. 7. Military officials said in a statement that Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash, a soldier in the Bedouin Trackers Unit in the Northern Brigade of the Gaza Division, had been killed in combat and that his body was being held in Gaza. Members of his family told Israeli media in December that he was last heard from at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas-led attack that set off the war. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the relatives of those captured in the attack, acknowledged his death in a statement “with a heavy heart.” About 120 hostages are being held in Gaza, according to Israeli officials, and more than a third are believed to be dead.
