The prosecutor-general on Wednesday referred the cases of nine people accused of spying for Israel to an Egyptian criminal court, a source told Ahram Online.

The accused include four Israeli military intelligence soldiers, two suspects of Arab-Israeli origins from the southern Israeli city of Ofakim, and three Egyptians from Rafah in north Sinai.

Of the nine, only two - Egyptians Oda Talab Ibrahim and Salama Hamed Abo Garad - with be tried in person, with the others being tried in absentia.

The two detained suspects were first arrested in late April, when the Egyptian Security Directorate of North Sinai uncovered a spy ring operating in Rafah.

At the time, Egyptian media cited North Sinai security sources as saying that the suspects had been arrested following months of surveillance.