Israel bars money transfers to Palestinian prisoner kin

By Abdelraouf Arna'out

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday signed four orders to seize money recently transferred by the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas resistance group to families of Palestinian prisoners and martyrs.

"The orders targeted funds transferred by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to Palestinians serving prison sentences in Israeli jails for terror attacks, as well as to family members of terrorists who were killed during the attacks,” the Israeli English language newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday.

Other orders included blocking transmission of funds to the mother of the Palestinian Abdel-Rahman Shaloudi, from Silwan neighborhood, who according to Israeli authorities was killed while ramming his car against an Israeli installation in East Jerusalem.

Quoting Israeli Defense Ministry, the newspaper reported that these payments are part of the systematic and organized activities of "terror" organizations to intensify attacks and to reward prisoners and their families.

Last month, Gantz had signed four other orders relating to confiscating funds allocated to the Hamas group that rules Gaza region.

Over the past year, the Israeli authorities have intensified crack down on Palestinian banks in order to monitor money transfers to families of Palestinian prisoners.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara