Fake Israeli soldier fought in Gaza war

An Israeli is accused of impersonating a soldier after fighting for weeks alongside troops in Gaza.

Roi Yifrah, 35, of Tel Aviv, was also charged with stealing weapons after he was arrested on 17 December.

Police said officers seized weapons from his apartment, car and his mother's home, including an assault rifle, stun grenades, explosive charges, bullets, military computers and a drone.

In the weeks after Hamas terrorists' deadly 7 October attacks on southern Israel, Yifrah pretended to be a member of Yamam, the border police's elite counter-terrorism force, according to his indictment in a local court.

Yifrah had "never done military service and never had any role in Yamam or the Shin Bet," the indictment added.

On one occasion he even claimed to be a member of the internal security agency Shin Bet.

Yifrah somehow managed to elude security screening when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops on the frontlines last week and posed for a photograph next to him dressed in full battle gear.

According to the indictment, Yifrah stole army property and misled army officials in order to receive additional equipment "fraudulently and under grave circumstances."

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the case.

But Yifrah's attorney, Eitan Sabag, defended his client, saying he rushed to southern Israel on 7 October as a volunteer medic.

"He gave first aid, and saved dozens, if not more, wounded," Sabag told Kan public radio.

Sabag said Yifrah fought alongside elite Israeli troops in Gaza's Al-Rimal neighborhood, one of the key battlegrounds in the territory.

"Why would a person who wants to steal a gun take the gun he allegedly stole and go deep into Gaza… to the most dangerous places?" Sabag said.

Yifrah had been previously charged for illegally possessing weapons and drugs, the Ynet news website reported.