Israel Bars Muslim Charity from West Bank, Claiming Hamas Link

Israel on Thursday banned Islamic Relief Worldwide from operating in the occupied West Bank, alleging the U.K.-based aid organization is funding the Palestinian Hamas movement, Reuters reports.

The order, signed by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, empowers Israeli authorities to seize any money the group might send to West Bank Palestinians. Yaalon said Islamic Relief chapters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were run by members of Hamas, which Israel, the United States, and the European Union have designated a terrorist organization.

Israel has intensified a crackdown on Hamas since the disappearance earlier this month of three teenagers whom the government accuses the Palestinian group of abducting from a Jewish settlement. Islamic Relief, which has operated in the occupied territories since 1994, said on its website that it had no official word of the ban and was “surprised and extremely concerned” to hear of it in media reports.