Two Israelis indicted for smuggling chemicals used in West Bank terror attacks

On June 1, Israeli prosecutors indicted two men on charges of illegal weapons transactions and violations of defence export regulations, after uncovering an alleged operation to smuggle hundreds of tons of dual-use chemicals into Palestinian Authority-controlled areas — chemicals later linked to deadly terror attacks.

The indictment named Yehezkel Moshe, 66, of Moshav Pedaya, and Jihad Wazuz, 43, of East Jerusalem, as the defendants. The two are accused of running a criminal operation since 2019 that involved the unauthorised distribution of materials such as potassium nitrate, calcium, and sulfur — substances that can be used to manufacture explosives, Caliber.Az reports, citing Israeli media.

According to the indictment, the pair continued their activities even after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, and despite becoming aware that the materials they supplied had been used in terror attacks.

The prosecution detailed how the chemicals were fraudulently documented as intended for an Israeli agricultural company located in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. In reality, the chemicals were redirected and sold to agricultural supply stores in the West Bank with no controls in place to ensure they would not be diverted for non-agricultural — and potentially violent — purposes.

Wazuz allegedly transported the chemicals using falsified documentation, driving them from Moshe’s facility in central Israel into the West Bank.

The indictment connects the smuggled chemicals to four terror attacks in the West Bank between March and August 2024, which involved the use of explosives made from dual-use materials. In September 2024, a Palestinian agricultural store owner in Hebron who had purchased the materials from Moshe was arrested for supplying a terrorist cell with the chemicals.

Despite being made aware of that arrest and the materials' link to attacks, Moshe continued selling and transferring the chemicals on at least six more occasions, prosecutors allege.

Moshe reportedly operated his own agricultural supply business and was also affiliated with the Israeli company Amir, under whose name some of the diverted chemicals were obtained — without authorisation.

“In their actions… the defendants assisted in the production of weapons, with the aim of advancing the activities of a terrorist organisation, or the commission of a terrorist act,” the indictment stated.

By Khagan Isayev