Sinai Peninsula along Egypt Israel border. Photo: WikiCommons.

An Egyptian court on Sunday accused five Israelis, in absentia, and three Egyptians of “espionage and providing a foreign entity with information concerning national security,” and referred them to a criminal court for cases involving national security and terrorism, Egypt’s Al Ahram daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said the five Israelis were Mossad operatives who received information from the three Egyptian residents of Rafah, in Northern Sinai, along the border with Israel, about Egyptian armed forces and Islamic militant groups in the area.

The Egyptians are also accused of accepting $40,000 from the Israeli agents for the leaked information.

Al Ahram said that in June 2013, nine Egyptians were accused of passing sensitive information to Israel and tried in absentia.