Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations    

    RAMALLAH, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Israeli army shut down four charities affiliated with Islamic Hamas in West Bank city of Nablus after storming the city early on Monday, Palestinian sources said.

    The Palestinian sources added that 40 Israeli army vehicles entered the city two hours after midnight and closed four charities belong to Hamas for three years.

    "The soldiers posted a statement from the Israeli military chief of Nablus district showing an order to close the charity for three years," said Dr. Hafez al-Sader of the Al-Tadamun charity which has a clinic and a club and was among the institutions that Israel says they "form Hamas infrastructure in the city," according to the closing order.

    Dr. al-Sader added that the soldiers destroyed and confiscated everything in the clinic, including about 5,000 U.S. dollars taken from the safe which was damaged.

    He rejected the Israeli accusations that the clinic was affiliated with the Islamic movement. "It was founded in 1977 before the establishment of Hamas."

    The other charities included one sponsoring orphans, an Islamic school for girls and a mosque. Separately, the Israeli army also stormed the Waqf offices of the Palestinian National Authority.

    On Monday, Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that the army will step up its campaign against Hamas civil infrastructure in the West Bank by closing larger number of the Islamic movement's charities.

    Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006, depending on votes by people who have been beneficiaries of the Hamas charities' aid.

    Since June 19, Hamas, controls Gaza Strip, has been in a state of ceasefire with Israel, thanks to Egyptian mediation efforts.