RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Israeli army on Wednesday shut the headquarters of the Health Work Committees, a Palestinian NGO, in the West Bank city of Ramallah for a period of six months, the organization said.

The NGO said in a statement that Israeli forces stormed its premises in the Sutah Marhaba neighborhood in Ramallah, ransacked the office and confiscated its computers.

According to the statement, the Israeli army sealed the main door with solid metal panels and ordered the immediate closure of two apartments in the building where the NGO is located for six months.

The NGO said the army cited security reasons for the closure.

The Israeli move “aims to restrict the operations of Palestinian health institutions that provide services to the Palestinians”, the organization said.
There was no comment from the Israeli military on the report.

In October 2019, the Israeli army stormed the office of the NGO and arrested its financial director.

The Health Work Committees is a Palestinian NGO that, according to its brochures, works in the field of health and community development and has branches across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara