2 Israelis originally from Gaza arrested for spying for Hamas

They were allowed to move to Israel and became citizens because they have Israeli mothers.

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(JTA) — Two Israeli citizens accused of spying for Hamas have been arrested.

The men are originally from the Gaza Strip, but were allowed to move to Israel because they have Israeli mothers — one an Arab Israeli and one a Jewish Israeli.

They were arrested at the beginning of the month but charged in court on Monday in central Israel, according to the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet.

Rami Amoudi, 30, and Rajab Daka, 34, were recruited last year by Hamas in Gaza to provide information, including video, of Israeli security installations such as military bases and police stations and Iron Dome battery placements, The Times of Israel reported, citing information from the ISA. Hamas also tasked Daka with identifying where rockets fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel.

Amudi was born to a Jewish-Israeli mother and Gazan father and lived in Gaza with his father’s family until he moved to Tel Aviv to be with his mother in November. Daka’s Arab-Israeli mother is from the central Israeli city of Lod. Since moving to Israel in 2017, he has visited his wife and five children in the Gaza Strip every few months, Ynet reported.

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