Four Arab citizens were charged Thursday with trafficking millions of shekels’ worth of goods into the Gaza Strip, the latest case of alleged smuggling into the enclave.

The case is also said to involve an Israeli soldier with access to the Strip.

The State Attorney’s Office filed two indictments against the defendants, accusing them of smuggling large quantities of cigarettes, electronics and other valuable goods through the Kerem Shalom border crossing on two separate occasions.

The defendants smuggled for “financial gain, while aware of the possibility that the prohibited goods would reach the Hamas organization and its operatives,” prosecutors said.

According to the indictments filed in the Haifa District Court, Ghaith and Amir Ghadir, from the northern Arab town of Bir al-Maksur, exploited their connection to a deputy battalion commander in the IDF who oversaw the flow of goods in and out of Gaza.

The case is the latest in a series of smuggling scandals to rock the IDF lately, as the IDF reservist Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, stands trial for allegedly smuggling cigarettes into the Strip.

The smuggled goods in this case were allegedly procured by a Palestinian supermarket owner from Hebron — who coordinated with Gazans on the receiving end of the smuggling.

The goods were then said to have been transported by a truck driver from Rahat named Adnan Abu Latif with the help of Amin Abu Latif, another resident of the Bedouin city.

The first successful smuggling attempt allegedly took place in early November. Late at night, Adnan and Amin were said to meet in the Hebron warehouse and load the truck with around 100 crates of cigarettes, makeup and perfume, pallets of hookah coal and six pairs of bicycles — collectively worth millions of shekels.

Then, Adnan allegedly drove with the goods to the Kerem Shalom crossing and exited the truck while its doors were still open and its engine still running. It was then picked up and driven into the Strip by individuals unknown to the prosecution. Adnan and Amin were paid NIS 450,000 ($146,000) for their actions, prosecutors said.

Two months later, in January, the pair made contact with the other two defendants and joined forces to smuggle cellphones, cigarettes, car batteries, electric bicycles, laptops, routers and chargers into the Strip, according to the indictment. Those involved received a total of NIS 4.5 million ($1.5 million).

The deputy battalion commander enlisted by the two defendants from Bir al-Maksur allegedly told other soldiers not to check or document the truck carrying the smuggled goods once it arrived at the border. He will be prosecuted separately by the Military Advocate General, a legal body within the IDF.

In the second case, it was Adnan who allegedly drove into the enclave after the Gazan truck driver, who was meant to pick up the goods, never arrived. The Israeli citizen passed the Yellow Line demarcating the IDF’s deployment in Gaza, and continued into Hamas-controlled territory, where he remained for three days before being extracted by IDF forces, prosecutors said.

The State Attorney’s Office said the defendants “exposed the entire State of Israel to a tangible and real danger,” noting that if Adnan had been kidnapped by hostile actors, Israel “would have been forced to launch a military operation to rescue him or to pursue a hostage exchange deal for his release.”

Prosecutors noted that prohibited goods, even those that can’t be repurposed toward violent ends, serve to strengthen Hamas financially, since the terror group often sells such goods to residents of the Strip while boxing independent vendors out of the market, hiking prices while channeling funds to the terror group’s coffers.

The four were indicted on severe charges, including assisting the enemy during wartime, using property for terrorist purposes, aggravated fraud and obstructing an investigation.

Gunrunning on Jordanian border

Meanwhile, the police and Shin Bet announced that security forces had caught a firearms smuggling attempt from Jordan into Israel, arresting three Bedouin Israelis implicated in the alleged trafficking.

The trio tried to sneak 36 handguns and 63 magazines into the country by way of a heavy-duty drone, the agencies said in a joint statement.

The army intercepted their drone in January. They were soon arrested near the Jordanian border, transferred to the Arad police station and later interrogated by Shin Bet agents on smuggling suspicions.

The three men were indicted Thursday in the Beersheba District Court, police announced, after over a month of investigating the case.

Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:

Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;

Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and

Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

1 Iran threatens to hit Dimona nuclear site if Israel and US try to topple regime

2 IDF planning for at least 1-2 more weeks of Iran ops; over 5,000 bombs dropped

3 Historic Tel Aviv Bauhaus building damaged by Iran missile explosion

4 US, Israel targeting Iran forces involved in crackdown to enable renewed protests — officials

5 Iranian warship was returning from naval exercises hosted by India when hit by US torpedo

6 WATCH: IDF airs video showing world-first F-35 downing of manned plane in Iran

7 First repatriation flights land in Israel, outbound travel to start Sunday

8 On Iranian TV, cleric calls for ‘shedding’ of blood from Israelis and Trump

© The Times of Israel