A dozen people including Israeli soldiers charged with smuggling goods into Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s ministry of justice charged a dozen people, including Israeli soldiers, on Wednesday with systematically smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods into Gaza, according to a statement by Israel's prosecutor.

The indictment charged the accused, some of whom included army reservists, with smuggling cigarettes, iPhones and batteries into Gaza and “assisting the enemy during wartime.” It said the accused committed their actions while aware of the possibility that the goods would reach the militant group Hamas and its operatives.

The statement also linked the brother of Israel’s chief of domestic security to the smuggling ring, although he was not named among those indicted.

In recent weeks, local media has reported that officials in Israel suspected that smuggling was ongoing in Gaza by active-duty and reserve soldiers, as well as others.

The Israeli outlet, Haaretz, attributed some of the smuggling to the army's weak oversight at the border. Throughout the war, the entry of aid into Gaza has been tightly controlled by Israel, which has prevented items from entering that it deems beneficial to Hamas. Israel has also accused Hamas of siphoning aid and taxing goods for its survival.

It's unclear how the goods were brought in.

An internal PowerPoint presentation from Gaza’s Chamber of Commerce from December and seen by The Associated Press said that special coordination allowing the entry of “sealed closed Israeli” trucks loaded with high-value goods are arranged through direct contact with “unknown channels” in Israel outside of the crossing system. The presentation said that illegal fees to get goods across can be in the millions of dollars per shipment.

The prosecutor's statement said that in addition to assisting Hamas during the war, all of the defendants were charged with financing terror activity, fraud and bribery.

It said Bezalel Zini, brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, was complicit in helping smuggle cigarettes into Gaza after being “offered bribes” by one of the defendants.

The statement says that Zini served in reserve duty at the time and “had authorization to bring convoys of vehicles" into Gaza. Zini, however, was not charged in this indictment. Earlier this week Zini's lawyer said that his client denies all “suspicions" attributed to him.

The statement said the accused smuggled the goods during several months leading up to and after the October ceasefire when Gaza was a closed military zone and control over incoming goods was of “paramount importance” to Hamas. A key smuggled good was tobacco and cigarettes — which Israel has barred from Gaza — a commodity that's earned Hamas millions of dollars since the start of the war.

The indictment said the accused smuggled items such as communication cables and car parts, which entered Gaza under false pretenses, appearing as if it was related to army activity. After crossing the border into Gaza the goods were placed at an agreed-upon delivery point inside the strip that was coordinated with someone there before the smugglers returned to Israel.

The prosecutor’s statement said its office has filed a request to seize the defendants property, including vehicles, real estate and money.

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Melzer reported from Nahariya.