Hacktivist group Handala claimed responsibility for a 4 June car bombing on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, saying the attack targeted a high-ranking Mossad official.
According to a statement from the group, the operation targeted a senior manager within Mossad’s New Influence Unit (Iran Desk) after months of “surveillance, pursuit operations, and close monitoring.”
Handala said the assassination came in response to Israeli aggression against Iran, stating that “even the regime’s most security-protected individuals are not safe in their usurped homes.”
The group further challenged Israeli security services to “dare to tell the truth” about the incident rather than denying it.
Israeli authorities have not confirmed the claim and are currently investigating the explosion’s background as “criminal,” while Israeli media reports have offered conflicting details regarding the victim.
While initial reports identified the deceased as a man, investigators are now reportedly examining the possibility that the victim was a woman.
Handala’s specific allegations regarding the target’s identity and intelligence affiliation have not been independently verified.
Handala had been active since the earlier days of the US-Israeli war on Iran, escalating its cyber operations against high-profile targets, including the FBI director and Israeli government officials.
In a recent development on 8 May, the collective announced it had compromised the secure phones of US Navy officers, allowing the group to track movements and uncover coordinates of personnel across the Persian Gulf.
According to the group, this data was used to compile a “target bank” of military gathering points, which is being shared with regional resistance forces as a response to US military escalation against Iran. Handala claims that its intelligence efforts have already contributed to strikes against 217 US military targets in West Asia.
The group’s tactics also include psychological warfare. It reportedly sent tens of thousands of warning messages directly to US personnel and previously leaked the personal data of 2,379 service members.
In December 2025, a nationwide telecommunications and banking blackout in Israel occurred following a Microsoft Azure failure that authorities investigated as a potential cyberattack. The timing of the event raised alarms after Handala claimed to have breached government data through cloud vulnerabilities.
source: The Cradle