(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)

During the night IDF forces operated in Hebron together with the Israel Security Agency and the Civil Administration against institutes of the Islamic Charity Movement, a Hamas terror organization fund operating under the guise of charity. The movement's aims are to rally support for Hamas, advance its ideology (including a Jihad holy war against Israel), to trace and recruit operatives and raise money for terror.

Hamas operates under the guise of civilian charity, however its institutes aim at empowering the terror organization and its grip upon the civilian population, as part of its campaign to heighten the level of terrorism against Israel and gain increasing power in the West Bank.

As part of the activities organized by the Islamic Charity Movement, the movement delivered money to terror operatives and members of their families, trained youths in the spirit of Jihad, provided financial incentives to families of suicide bombers and prisoners, and operated to spread Hamas principles among the Palestinian population.

With such actions Hamas exploits Palestinian society, particularly its lowest socio-economic strata, in order to gather a terror following.

During the operation, the IDF operated against the movement's financial institutes - important Hamas sources of profit used to fund terrorist activity - in Hebron, by ordering their closure and confiscating part of their possessions.