Israeli firms have teamed up with militants in Sudan, operating gold and uranium mines in the South Kordofan state and smuggling the reserves to the occupied Palestinian lands, a report says.

Hassan Abdallah Dudu, a local chief, said the Israelis are tapping mineral reserves in the areas controlled by Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), the Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported on Thursday.

They are smuggling them, which also include other minerals, across the border into South Sudan to be transported to Israel, he said.

The report said Israeli companies are also conducting drilling operations in the strategic Umm Sardaba district in the South Kordofan state.

In December 2014, SMC reported that SPLM-N militants were smuggling gold and using the proceeds to finance their militancy and attacks on the Sudanese government.

The news agency published pictures purportedly showing senior SPLM-N commanders trading large quantities of gold with officials of the Sudanese opposition Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Bank of South Sudan in Juba.

Since 2011, the SPLM-N has been fighting against the Sudanese government in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states which they claim are politically and economically marginalized.

Khartoum accuses neighboring South Sudan, which seceded from the Republic of Sudan in 2011, of supporting anti-government militants.