Updated

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops swarmed into the West Bank town of Nablus in the middle of the night. The Israelis reportedly shut down a girls' school, a medical center and other facilities of a Hamas-affiliated charity.

Israeli troops and security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS') recently have been going after West Bank charities, media outlets and other organizations with suspected ties to the militants.

According to the witnesses, dozens of military jeeps, two bulldozers and two trucks entered Nablus at around 1 a.m. today. They headed for the facilities of the Solidarity charity, delivering an order to shut the facility for three years.

A Hamas spokesman says the charities "take care of families of martyrs, orphans and poor people," and that closing them is "a moral crime."