ISTANBUL / Khaled Youssef / Anadolu

The Economic Enforcement Department of the Israeli Attorney General's Office is considering filing fraud and breach of trust charges against Israel Avishar, former head of the Firearms Licensing Division in the office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, according to Hebrew media.

Channel 13 reported Tuesday that the Economic Enforcement Department informed Avishar that the attorney general intends to study filing an indictment against him on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust.

It added that the police's Lahav 433 unit for fighting serious crimes and corruption is investigating Avishar on suspicion of allowing unauthorized entities to issue weapons licenses to Israeli settlers.

The channel quoted the Israeli prosecution as saying those entities issued about 23,000 conditional permits for weapon possession, in addition to nearly 15,000 final licenses.

It noted that Lahav 433 is handling the investigation, recalling that two years ago it announced the arrest of four suspects in a bribery case on suspicion of involvement in facilitating the issuance of weapons licenses in exchange for hundreds of thousands of shekels, while ten other related suspects were detained.

Ben Gvir launched a policy to expand arming of Israelis, including settlers in the occupied West Bank, after the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post recently reported that documented reports from the Ministry of National Security indicated that the number of civilians holding personal firearms licenses exceeded 250,000, a huge surge compared to the pre-war annual average of no more than 8,000 licenses per year.

This policy sparked controversy within Israel, especially after incidents in which Israelis were killed by other Israelis who mistakenly thought they were Palestinians, and Hebrew media revealed violations in the issuance of weapons licenses, including granting them to people unqualified to carry them.

Israeli settlers, many of whom carry firearms, launch near-daily attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as part of assaults aimed at forcibly displacing them and seizing their land.

Since October 2023, Israel has intensified demolition, displacement, and settlement expansion in the West Bank, in steps Palestinians say pave the way for annexation and undermine chances for an independent Palestinian state under the two-state solution.