Hacker

Critical infrastructure, official news sites, and security communications systems reportedly stopped functioning, leaving the leadership in a communications blackout at home and abroad.

It is not clear who is responsible for the hack, with one of the messages reading “Help has arrived,” an apparent reference to a message issued by US President Donald Trump in January 2026.

Head of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, Yossi Karadi, noted the 55% increase in incident reports this year, with most being specific targeted attack indicators.

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"You can defend well hundreds of times, but they only have to get through once," the former official noted. "It is always harder to protect than it is to attack."

Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) Chief Yossi Karadi told The Jerusalem Post that Israel is among the three countries most targeted by hackers worldwide.

"I feel there is a need for teaching people digital self-defense, teaching people critical skills to understand what's fake, what's real, what should be shared, what shouldn't," Elazari said.

Handala, an Iran-linked hacker group previously responsible for hacking the devices of Israeli officials, threatened that it would release a "shock" of information regarding Mossad.

A person familiar with the campaign was cited as saying it was unclear whether the attackers had accessed lawmakers' emails in the intrusions, which were detected in December.

The Iranian hackers shared a series of photos, including one of Shaked at a meeting with Bennett and another of her posing with several IDF soldiers.