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Israeli ambulance driver indicted for spying on hospitals, sites for Iran

The suspect allegedly exploited his medical access to document hospitals, protests and a senior official for handlers from the enemy state.

A Magen David Adom ambulance drives down a street in Jerusalem with its emergency lights activated on July 1, 2017. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS.
A Magen David Adom ambulance drives down a street in Jerusalem with its emergency lights activated on July 1, 2017. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS-IL.

An Israeli Arab man from the Western Galilee village of Bi’ina was indicted on Thursday for allegedly carrying out intelligence missions for Iran, the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police said in a joint statement.

Amir Hisham Mohammed Titi, 34, was arrested on June 29 by undercover officers from the Border Police’s Tactical Brigade, following a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and the Central Unit of the police’s Northern District.

According to the statement, Titi worked as an ambulance driver and used his unrestricted access to hospitals across the country to pass his Iranian handler information and photographs of hospital deployments during both routine periods and emergencies. During one visit to a hospital in northern Israel, he allegedly photographed a senior official.

Beyond tasks tied to his job, Titi was reportedly directed to document several other locations, including “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, where he was photographed holding a sign bearing images of hostages held in the Gaza Strip; a protest at the Merkaz Horev complex in Haifa; and a moshav in the Sharon region where a senior security official lives.

The statement said Titi received tens of thousands of shekels for his activity, transferred through relatives’ bank accounts and to a digital wallet. Authorities described the case as a serious instance of an Israeli citizen assisting an enemy during wartime.

The indictment was filed on Thursday morning with the Haifa District Court by attorney Yehuda Dayan of the Haifa District Prosecutor’s Office.

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