36 Grenades Hidden in the Bedrooms of a Jerusalem Home

Israeli police searching a Jerusalem home for a suspected army deserter found a large and varied arsenal hidden through the house, including 36 grenades, a Kalashnikov rifle and tools for assembling explosives, according to a statement issued by the Israel Police on 3 July 2026. The owner of the house, a man in his 50s, was arrested for questioning.

The statement said officers of the Moriah police station in the Jerusalem District, working with the Military Police, carried out a targeted search of a residential home in the city the previous day, looking for a suspect in his 20s who had deserted from the army. During the search they found a smoke grenade, which raised the suspicion that more weapons were present. Border Police dog handlers and Jerusalem District bomb-disposal technicians were called in. The subsequent search uncovered weapons concealed in different rooms of the house, among them the playroom, the parents' bedroom and the children's rooms. The items found included 36 grenades of various types, 18 of them fragmentation grenades, along with explosive devices, a Kalashnikov rifle, a hunting rifle, tools for making and assembling explosives, various sights, a large quantity of ammunition including belts, and a considerable amount of combat equipment.

The desertion problem behind the search

The search was prompted by a hunt for a deserter, and the army has many to look for. In August 2025 the Times of Israel reported that some 14,600 Israelis were listed by the military's personnel directorate as draft evaders or deserters, and that the army had offered a five-day amnesty to those who came forward, warning that it would step up enforcement against everyone else. The offer was made against a backdrop of manpower shortages after nearly two years of war.

How military weapons reach private homes

Grenades, rifles and combat equipment leaking out of army stocks is a recognised problem in Israel. Figures obtained under freedom-of-information rules and reported by the Times of Israel in 2021 showed the military lost hundreds of guns and machine guns, close to 50 rocket launchers, grenades, explosives and more than 150,000 rounds of ammunition between 2013 and 2020.

The trade in them is organised. In July 2025 Israel National News reported the indictment of seven suspects over a ring that moved pistols, M16 and Kalashnikov rifles, more than 100 explosive charges, dozens of detonators and thousands of rounds to armed operatives, criminal organisations and smugglers; a single raid on a warehouse in that case produced six pistols, three M16s and a Kalashnikov. In June 2026 the Jerusalem Post reported that two conscript soldiers had been charged with removing rifles from sleeping tents and a machine gun from a military vehicle, with three of the weapons sold for more than 100,000 shekels each.

Who was called to the house

The technicians brought in belong to the Israel Police bomb disposal unit, which has stations in the major cities and in each police district and handles improvised devices, military ordnance and unexploded remnants; its members are generally police officers who previously served in army combat or engineering units.

What the offences carry

Weapons offences in Israel have carried mandatory minimum sentences since December 2021, when the Knesset required courts to impose at least a quarter of the maximum penalty for possession and trafficking. The same report cited a 2020 Knesset estimate of some 400,000 illegal weapons in circulation nationally.

What the statement did not say

The police did not say whether the deserter they were looking for was found or arrested, or what relationship, if any, he has to the homeowner. They did not say where the weapons came from, whether any had been traced to military stocks, or what the homeowner has said in his defence. The statement gave no names, no address beyond the city, and did not say what charges are being considered or whether anyone else in the household is under investigation.