State prosecutors filed charges on Wednesday against 12 suspects, among them IDF reservists, accused of taking part in a major smuggling ring that trafficked goods into the Gaza Strip.

The defendants were indicted in the Beersheba District Court for assisting the enemy during wartime, financing terror activity, fraud and bribery for their alleged smuggling of goods into the enclave.

The alleged smuggling ring is linked to Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, who is thought to have helped the network’s members smuggle cigarettes, taking advantage of his IDF reserve service in the Gaza Strip.

Zini is expected to be among those indicted on Thursday.

The items allegedly smuggled include cigarettes, iPhones, batteries, telecommunications cables and car parts, which are worth millions of shekels in total. Some of the goods in question are classified as “dual-use” items, meaning they can be used by Hamas for terror activities.

The indictments on Wednesday were filed against brothers Eliran Elgrably, 38, of Kiryat Gat and Avi Elgrably, 41, of Kiryat Ata; Imad al-Din Abu Mukh, 55, of Baqa al-Gharbiya; Ofer Sankar, 41; Yosef Yochananov, 39, Yuri Yakubov, 42, Menachem Abutbul, 39, and Nadav Halfon, 30, all of Kiryat Gat; Meir Levi, 26, of Beitar Illit; Oshri Dahan, 39, of Talmei Eliyahu; Yaron Peretz, 52, of Noam; and Attar Even, 37, of Shaked.

The defendants acted “to smuggle prohibited goods into the Strip in a systematic and........

© The Times of Israel