RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestine Monetary Authority said Monday it was investigating a spate of bank thefts in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, following a report that US$70 million had been grabbed in a matter of weeks.

The independent body that oversees the financial system in the Palestinian territories acknowledged that banks in Hamas-ruled Gaza had faced "increased challenges" linked to the war raging there, and that there had been cases of "looting and stealing the contents of destroyed branches."

"Efforts are continuing to assess the damage caused by the war on the assets of the banking system in the Gaza Strip, including... the thefts that affected a number of bank branches," the authority said in a statement sent to AFP on Monday.

The statement came after French daily Le Monde reported over the weekend that a combined nearly US$70 million in funds were snatched from the vaults of several branches of the Bank of Palestine in April alone.

Citing a bank document sent to "certain international partners" detailing the robberies, the newspaper described how bank staff on April 16 discovered a hole in the ceiling of the safe deposit room at one of the bank's Gaza branches.

They had found that some US$3 million worth of Israeli shekels destined for cash dispensers were missing, Le Monde said.

The next day, according to the report, armed groups equipped with explosives returned to the site, blew up a cement protection chamber, and took more than US$30 million in various currencies from three safes.

Two days later, the biggest Gaza branch was attacked by commandos who said they answered to "Gaza's highest authorities", which Le Monde said is understood to mean Hamas. They took more than US$36 million worth of shekels, the report stated.

The Bank of Palestine, Gaza's leading financial institution, issued a statement insisting that "the news is not accurate about the extent of the losses that befell its branches in the Gaza Strip."

The bank did not provide details on how much money had actually gone missing, insisting that "it is too early to assess and determine the extent of the damage and losses that the bank has been exposed to."

It maintained that it had "taken all necessary precautions" to prepare for "the most difficult possible scenarios, including the loss of some of the bank's assets."

In the monetary authority's statement, governor Firas Melhem insisted that the Palestinian banking system was "strong, and capable of withstanding extreme scenarios of shock."

"The Monetary Authority calls on the Palestinian public not to be drawn into any false news published by unknown sources about the reality of the banking system," the statement said, stressing that all deposits were guaranteed.

 -AFP