Police raid Islamic organizations in Germany over alleged Hamas support

Police carried out raids across Germany on Wednesday targeting charities suspected of providing "financial and propaganda" support to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said the main targets of the raids were WorldWide Resistance-Help and Ansaar International which are believed to have collected funds for Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The organizations say on their websites that they collect donations for people in Gaza, Somalia, Syria, and other countries.

"Whoever supports Hamas under the mantle of providing humanitarian aid disregards the fundamental values of our constitution," Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said. "This also discredits the commitment of the many aid organizations that have committed themselves to neutrality under difficult circumstances."

Hamas, which has armed and political wings, took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after it defeated the PLO-affiliated Fatah party in Palestinian elections. The US, Israel and the EU consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

Founded in 2012, the Dusseldorf-based Ansaar International describes itself as an aid organization carrying out projects "for the good of Allah." It claims to have 600 members in Germany and around 2,000 around the globe.

According to the organization, it provides health services, water and sanitation, orphanages and education to the needy in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.

The raids in Germany come as the Gaza Strip suffers from a mounting humanitarian crisis marked by electricity shortages and the deterioration of critical health, water and sanitation services.

The crisis is in part caused by three wars between Hamas and Israel since 2008 and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. Israel blames the humanitarian crisis on Hamas' poor governance.

Israel regularly carries out airstrikes in Gaza in response to rocket and mortar fire directed at Israel.

Palestinian protesters have held weekly demonstrations for more than a year along the security fence separating the Gaza Strip and Israel.

In February, the UN issued a report on the Gaza protests accusing Israel of committing "violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."

Nearly 200 Palestinian protesters have been killed and another 9,000 injured during the protests, many by live fire from Israeli military snipers.