A 50-year-old man from the Gaza Belt and three others were indicted Monday morning for selling to Hamas materials that the terrorist organization used to build terror tunnels and military compounds.
The indictment stated that the suspects knew that Hamas was going to use the material for terror. The gang included one Arab with Israeli citizenship, a Jew from Tel Aviv and an Arab from the Palestinian Authority.
The resident from the Gaza Belt, identified as Micha Peretz, denied he knew that the material was destined for Hams terrorists. He covered his face when confronted by reporters.
The shocking indictment effectively removed a gag order on the arrests of the gang, which allegedly shipped material to Hamas last year until the Protective Edge campaign.
The suspects were arrested several weeks ago after extensive investigations by the police, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), customs officers and the IDF. Also arrested were more than two dozen Israeli and Palestinian Authority Arabs.
The materials that Hamas bought from the suspects passed through the Kerem HaShalom. The suspects worked for a large but unnamed company and previously had been warned not to deal with Hamas.
They allegedly sold the terrorist organization thousands of tons of metal, communications and electronic equipment worth tens of millions of dollars. The materials were used to build the same tunnels that terrorists used to kill soldiers and stage attacks on Gaza Belt communities, including where Peretz lives.
Still unanswered is how the material was cleared by Israeli inspectors to pass through the crossing into Gaza, but it is known that gang used a straw company to ship the materials.
The chairman of the Eshkol Regional Council where Peretz lives told Israel Radio Monday morning he was angry and shocked. “If the charges are true, he should not see daylight again,” he said.
He called him a traitor.