Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran-Linked Handala Claims Threatening Leaflets in North Tel Aviv Mailboxes as Police and Shin Bet Investigate

Residents of northern Tel Aviv found leaflets threatening Israel's power and water infrastructure in their mailboxes. Police and the Shin Bet are investigating, and the Iran-linked hacker group Handala has claimed responsibility.

Israel Police and the Shin Bet are investigating threatening leaflets that residents of northern Tel Aviv found in their mailboxes on Monday, November 9, 2026, according to The Times of Israel. Officers from the Yarkon District went to several addresses and collected the leaflets as evidence, Israel National News reported, and said the leaflets are suspected of being linked to Iranian elements.

Each leaflet carries a QR code. Police said it leads to a webpage with suspected threatening content, and The Times of Israel reported that the page is titled "warning from handala team." A photograph of one leaflet shows the letters HPR above the hashtags #NoWater and #NoElectricity in Hebrew, with an invitation to scan the code. Ynet reported that the leaflets carry the emblem of a "Popular Front for Resistance."

The threats target civilian infrastructure. "Not a single power plant, refinery, or desalination plant will remain in the occupied territories," one passage reads, according to The Jerusalem Post. Another warns: "From south to north, your energy and water arteries will shatter like glass." The message promises Israelis "darkness and thirst" if their leaders again strike what it calls the energy infrastructure of the "Resistance Front," and it ends: "This is the final warning."

Handala claimed responsibility. Ynet reported that the group said on social media that dozens of its activists went door to door in Tel Aviv until dawn and delivered hundreds of thousands of leaflets. That figure is the group's own claim and has not been independently confirmed. Police have not said who distributed the leaflets, and the investigation is continuing.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Handala presents itself as an independent organization but has ties to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to a US Justice Department assessment. Police describe it as a hacker group linked to Iran that has previously published material from devices belonging to Israeli officials. The Times of Israel noted that Israeli authorities have arrested dozens of people over the past two years for carrying out acts for Iran in exchange for money, with handlers typically starting recruits on minor tasks.

Police asked anyone who finds a similar leaflet to report it immediately by calling the police hotline, 100.

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About this article

Eitan Ben-David is the pen name of Hasbara’s Enemies: Terror Organizations desk. Every article is sourced and cited.

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