Fraud of over a million shekels of state funds a Palestinian couple purchased the details of an Israeli citizen and under her identity maintained a disguised lifestyle and received benefits from the state.
Palestinian couple defrauded state of over 1M shekels using deceased infant's identity for residency and benefits.
Residency status was revoked and an indictment will be filed against the couple. At the end of 2025, a covert investigation by the Arrow Yehuda unit, in cooperation with the Investigations and Intelligence Division of the National Insurance Institute, began, due to suspicion that a Palestinian couple (from Hebron, aged 57 and 43) acquired the details of a deceased Israeli citizen who died as an infant and used them to maintain a lifestyle under a false identity and receive benefits from the state. The investigation revealed that over 20 years ago, the couple married under their real names. Shortly thereafter, they divorced, ostensibly. Subsequently, they remarried, with the woman assuming the false identity of an Israeli citizen residing in Ar’ara. This marriage to a supposed Israeli citizen fraudulently granted the suspect a residency permit through family reunification, and thus the couple also received state funds and established businesses. The two divided their time between their home in Rahat, where the suspect operated under the false identity, and their home in Hebron, where she was known by her real name. On 04.28.26, as the investigation transitioned to an open phase, the Arrow Yehuda unit, with the assistance of additional forces from the Judea region, Southern District, and the IDF, arrested the couple. Following a DNA test that proved the connection to her biological mother, the suspect confessed to the charges against her and detailed the sequence of events. According to National Insurance Institute officials, this is a massive fraud totaling over one million shekels of state funds. Subject to the investigation’s findings, the National Insurance Institute revoked the residency status of the suspect and her young children, and the police seized their vehicles for forfeiture proceedings. A statement of intent to indict was filed against the couple by the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office.
