TULKARM, March 22, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli forces predawn Tuesday stormed and wrecked havoc into the Central Zakat Committee’s premises in the eastern neighborhood of Tulkarm city, in northwestern West Bank, according to witnesses.
A large Israeli military force, escorting a bulldozer and two trucks, stormed the Zakat Committee’s premises between 1:30 and 2:00 AM, destroying main doors, ransacking it and seizing several electronic appliances and records.
Committee’s Director, Ghazi Qasem, told WAFA that as soon as he received a phone call about the military raid, he rushed into the Committee’s premises and was ‘shocked’ by the extensive destruction wrecked by the attacking Israeli forces.
The forces, he added, seized four computers, six spinning chairs, 10 leather chairs, a fingerprint scanner, two copying machines, a fridge, three scanners, a fax machine, an air-conditioning unit, two mobiles, three landlines, an internet router, an electric heater, fans, a number of paper-shredding machines, and files, among others.
He estimated that the total cost of seized items exceed $7,800.
The assaulting forces also blew up the Committee’s back door in an attempt to seize a large metal safe deposit containing many files, but they were unable to do so, and instead threw it on the ground. They smashed all lockers and threw contents across the floor.
He stressed that Zakat committee is a non-politically-affiliated charity that collects and utilizes zakat, an Islamic tax, for the sponsorship of orphans in cooperation with the Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs as well as the Palestinian Zakat Fund.
Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs Yusuf Id‘ies slammed that Israeli raid and stressed that the Zakat committees are officially approved by his ministry.
K.F/M.N
