Israeli police said Wednesday that security forces seized roughly 1.5 million shekels ($447,000) of “terror funds” during a raid in the occupied West Bank a day earlier.
Israeli forces targeted a currency exchange in Ramallah on Tuesday, leaving dozens of Palestinians wounded, according to the Red Crescent.
Israel carries out frequent raids across the West Bank, where tensions have remained high throughout the Gaza war, but incursions into central Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, are relatively rare.
A statement from a police spokesman on Wednesday said Israeli border police and the military “raided a money exchange business in the heart of Ramallah that was used to transfer funds to the Hamas terror organisation”.
“Forces seized significant sums of money in both foreign and local currencies, with a total value of approximately 1,528,832 shekels, including US dollars, Jordanian dinars, euros, and other foreign currencies,” the statement said.
“Nine wanted suspects accused of involvement in terror activity were arrested and taken, together with the seized evidence, for investigation,” it added.
Since the start of the Gaza war, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, Israeli raids on Palestinian population centres in the West Bank, particularly in the territory’s north, have intensified.
Previous Israeli operations, earlier this year and in December 2023, have similarly targeted currency exchange offices in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israeli troops or settlers in the occupied West Bank have killed at least 972 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, since the beginning of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures.
In the same period, at least 36 Israelis, both civilians and security forces, have been killed in attacks or during military operations in the territory, according to Israeli figures.
bur-acc/csp
© Agence France-Presse
