Gaza bankers said the ruling Hamas militant group sent police to confiscate the money from a branch of the Palestine Investment Bank. They said the police were accompanied by members of a committee Hamas had appointed in 2009 to oversee the Palestine Investment Fund, which is run by the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank.

The men confiscated checks from the fund, and then ordered bank tellers to cash them, though the account didn't contain enough money. The bankers spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The Hamas Interior Ministry said the police helped to seize the money because the investment fund had improperly transferred funds out of Gaza to the West Bank. Hamas denied the money was taken at gunpoint.

The investment fund is one of the few institutions affiliated with the rival Fatah movement still operating in Gaza.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry confirmed the incident, but denied it was a robbery. It said police were merely protecting the interests of bank customers who had been unable to withdraw funds. It said Gaza businessmen had approached the police after the bank said it could not cash their checks because it had insufficient cash funds and then, a day later, told them it had been ordered by its Ramallah office to transfer the money to the West Bank.

The Palestine Investment Bank reportedly told the customers that the money transfer had been ordered by the Ramallah-based Palestine Investment Fund, an investment institution set up and administered by the Palestinian Authority.

“In order to protect the Palestinian people's money ... the police went to oblige the bank's administration to pay the amounts and not -— as certain suspicious websites have said — to carry out an armed robbery,” the statement said.

The Ramallah-based Monetary Authority condemned the “seizure by force of arms of amounts of cash under the pretext of cashing checks ... in a way that is against all laws and norms of banking.”

It announced “the suspension of banking in all branches of banks operating in the Gaza Strip on Thursday ... as an expression of resentment, denunciation and condemnation for these deplorable attacks.”