Israeli army closes charity headquarters in occupied West Bank city of Nablus

Attadamun Charitable Society, one of most prominent charities in Nablus, provided aid to poor families, orphans before closure

The Israeli army closed the headquarters of the Attadamun Charitable Society in the northern occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, claiming it “supports terrorism,” local sources said. Israeli forces stormed Nablus at dawn with military vehicles and trucks, raided the charity’s headquarters and confiscated its contents, including office equipment and aid designated for poor families, local sources told Anadolu. The forces closed the entrance to the building and posted a military order stating that the association was being shut down on the grounds of “supporting terrorism,” the sources said. Speaking to Anadolu after inspecting the charity’s headquarters, Nablus Gov. Ghassan Daghlas said “the [Israeli] occupation will fail in its policy of targeting charitable institutions that provide services to the poor and orphans.” He said Attadamun has a long history of supporting families in need, adding that its closure would not stop aid from being delivered to residents. “The targeting of the charity comes as part of a systematic policy aimed at undermining Palestinian steadfastness,” Daghlas said. “The closure was not the first of its kind, but part of a systematic Israeli targeting of institutions that provide services to Palestinian society,” Ghassan Hamdan, director of the Medical Relief Society in Nablus, told Anadolu. The Israeli army carries out near-daily raids in West Bank cities and towns, often involving arrests, field interrogations and home searches. Since Oct. 8, 2023, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers in the West Bank have killed at least 1,173 Palestinians, injured 12,666 and led to the arrest of about 23,000, according to official figures. The attacks also include the demolition of homes and facilities, the razing of agricultural land, preventing farmers from reaching their land, displacing residents from their homes and expanding settlements in the occupied territory. Palestinians warn that the attacks are paving the way for Israel to formally annex the West Bank, which would end the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions. Israel was established in 1948 on lands occupied by armed Zionist groups that carried out massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. It later occupied further territories and refuses to withdraw or allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.