Israel on Thursday banned a British-based charity from operating in the occupied West Bank, accusing Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) of being a source of funding for the Palestinian Hamas Islamist movement.
The edict was issued as part of Israel's crackdown on Hamas, through raids on its West Bank institutions and arrests of suspected activists, after accusing the group of abducting three Israeli teenagers who disappeared near a Jewish settlement a week ago.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon signed an order declaring the IRW an "unauthorized association" and empowering Israeli authorities to seize any funds the group might send to Palestinians in the West Bank.
No comment was immediately available from the IRW in Britain. Officials in an affiliate office, International Relief in Palestine, in the Gaza Strip said they had no information about the Israeli decision.
According to IRW's website, it has been working in the Palestinian territories since 1994, tending to underprivileged, malnourished and traumatized children as well as creating jobs and encouraging entrepreneurship with interest-free loans.
Founded in 1984, IRW says on its website that it operates in more than 30 countries, promoting economic and social development. It lists the European Commission, the World Health Organization and UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency - among its "key partners".
In a statement, Yaalon said some of the charity's chapters, including those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, were run by Hamas members.
"The IRW is one of the sources of Hamas's funding and a means for raising funds from various countries in the world," the statement said. "We do not intend to allow it to function and abet terrorist activity against Israel."
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and European Union. It has charitable networks as well as armed cadres, contributing to its popularity among Palestinians.
There has been no sign of life from the missing teenagers since their disappearance, or any public claim of responsibility or ransom demands - including by Hamas, though neither has it denied involvement.
Earlier, Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinians on Thursday, the military said, in the fiercest street battles in the occupied West Bank since a search began for three Israeli teenagers missing for a week.
Hospital officials said three Palestinians suffered bullet wounds in the overnight clashes in Jenin, a militant stronghold and the scene of deadly fighting during a Palestinian uprising a decade ago. There were no reported Israeli casualties.
In a statement, the military said about 300 Palestinians, including some who "hurled explosives and opened fire", confronted soldiers who entered Jenin looking for the three seminary students.
Israel says the Hamas Islamist group abducted them last Thursday as they were hitchhiking near a Jewish settlement.
Israel has said its West Bank operation is two-fold: to find Gil-Ad Shaer and US-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both aged 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, and to deal a substantial blow to Hamas, a group dedicated to its destruction.
At Bir Zeit University, near the Palestinian town of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers on Thursday seized Hamas posters and flags from a student group affiliated with Hamas.
On Tuesday, Hamas and 10 other Palestinian factions issued a joint communique warning Israel that they would not "stay handcuffed" in the face of its West Bank dragnet - a threat of armed resistance.
Security experts expect the frustration of ordinary Palestinians at Israeli restrictions in the West Bank to mount as Ramadan is due to begin on June 28-29.
REUTERS