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Israel tightens financial noose on Gaza

Israel recently designated a Gaza currency exchange company a terror organization, raising concerns among local bankers and business owners about who might be next.
RAFAH, GAZA STRIP - NOVEMBER 23:  A Palestinian traveler exchanges money as he waits to leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt at the Rafah border crossing November 23, 2005 in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials now have control of the Rafah crossing for the first time in decades after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice successfully brokered a deal on November 15. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to attend an official inauguration ceremony of the crossing on November 25.  (Photo by
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman issued an order on June 21 designating the Hamed Exchange Company in Gaza City a terrorist organization. The directive follows a recommendation by Shin Bet, Israel's intelligence service, accusing the company of funding Hamas. Liberman noted that declaring the company a terrorist organization would prevent it from working with financial institutions internationally, thus cutting off sources of funding for the movement.

Considered a first of its kind measure by Israel against a company in Gaza, the move was foreshadowed by the Israeli military's campaign against money exchange operations in the West Bank between 2006 and 2017. The companies targeted were accused of transferring funds to Palestinian activists and families of political prisoners and Palestinians killed by Israelis or in attacks against them. They were met with orders to confiscate millions of dollars and shekels and to close. Their owners were also arrested.

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