Israel’s police force is under speculation due to claims that police have used spyware in order to hack the phones of high ranking officials, as well as journalists without authorization. 

According to BBC, an accusation has been made that a witness in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has also been allegedly hacked during this situation, as well as others who have taken part in trial against or with high ranking individuals.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the reports were “very serious, if true”, according to BBC.

Reports claim that the police have used a Pegasus software that was developed by NSO, an Israeli surveillance company. This company and software has been accused of spyware and hacking on multiple occasions.

All groups accused of being behind the alleged hacking have denied all accusations made against them, and have claimed to have not known anything about the spyware, except NSO who sold the software. However, they have claimed innocence to being behind the hacking.

According to The Washington Post, the phone numbers who have made claims to have been hacked have appeared on a list made by NSO that included over 50,000 numbers in the area with some dating all the way back to 2016. 

However, the company has come back with statements insisting that it has not had anything to do with the use of the program after it is sold. This Israeli spyware group has additionally been added to a U.S trade blacklist, according to reports. 

There is not much known about the motive of this hacking group, just that journalists, high ranking officials and those related to trials of high ranking officials are all at risk of losing their phone privacy to this group.