JERUSALEM — Israel’s attorney general said Sunday a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been advised that he could face criminal prosecution on allegations of providing secret information with the intent of harming the country’s security.

The development involving a central figure in what is popularly known in Israel as Qatargate comes after police earlier this year arrested the adviser, Jonatan Urich, and former spokesperson Eli Feldstein on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel.

Feldstein also has been indicted in a separate case involving the leak of classified information to a German tabloid — and Sunday’s statement said Urich could face criminal prosecution in that case.

The attorney general’s statement said Urich is accused of working with Feldstein to share “highly classified” Israeli military information and said the release “was intended, among other things, to influence public awareness regarding the prime minister and to shift the discourse” following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August of last year.

— The Associated Press