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Israel busts Hamas money-laundering operation

Three men were arrested in a joint IDF-Shin Bet raid on suspicion of funneling Hamas money from the Gaza Strip to terrorist operatives in Judea and Samaria.

Illustrative: Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during raids in Hebron on Sept. 20, 2017. Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90.
Illustrative: Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during raids in Hebron on Sept. 20, 2017. Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90.

Israeli security forces arrested three Palestinian Authority residents on Tuesday night as part of a crackdown against a Hamas scheme used to transfer funds between the Gaza Strip, and Judea and Samaria.

According to the Israeli military, senior Hamas terrorists in Gaza have been funneling money to operatives in Judea and Samaria through the Al-Haramain travel agency, which obscured the source of the funds through the use of a complex network of independent money-changers.

The network used a method of offsetting debts between several independent money changers without registration in official banking systems.

According to the military, the funds were used to pay for organizational terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria and to pay the salaries of Hamas operatives there.

“The methods used by Hamas to transfer funds are familiar, and we are working to thwart them,” said the Israel Defense Forces in a statement, vowing that it would work to prevent civilian companies from cooperating with terrorist elements in Judea and Samaria, and in Gaza.

The authority “continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through new mechanisms and under a different name,” the U.S. State Department informed Congress.
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