Two Israeli men charged with spying for Hamas

The Shin Bet security service says it foiled a Hamas spy ring operating in central Israel, arresting earlier this month two Israeli citizens who allegedly provided the terror group with details about Israeli security facilities and other intelligence information.

According to the security service, the two men — Rami Amoudi, 30, and Rajab Daka, 34 — were recruited by the Gaza-based terror group and tasked with filming security installations in central Israel, including “military bases, police stations, Iron Dome battery placements.”

The Shin Bet says Daka was also asked to provide the precise locations of where rockets launched from Gaza had landed during the recent bouts of fighting, apparently to help the terror group improve its accuracy.

Both Amoudi and Daka are originally from the Gaza Strip, but were able to move to Israel as they have Israeli mothers. Daka’s mother is an Arab Israeli from the town of Lod, while Amoudi has a Jewish Israeli mother, the Shin Bet says.

The two men were arrested on January 2 and charged in a Central District Court earlier today.

The Shin Bet has long opposed the government’s program allowing for family reunification, in which Gaza-based relatives are able to leave the Strip and move to the West Bank or Israel. The security service has traced this program to multiple Hamas terror rings in recent years.

— Judah Ari Gross