At least 70 charities linked to the war in Gaza have been referred to police by a watchdog over potential criminal activity, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Charity Commission said criminal investigations could take place into groups ‘supporting different sides of the Middle East conflict’.

Police are understood to be investigating offences such as fraud, theft, inciting religious hatred or supporting terrorism.

The watchdog has opened more than 300 regulatory cases involving charities with an Israeli or Hamas focus in the past 18 months.

A Freedom of Information request revealed about a quarter – at least 70 – were referred for investigation.

The watchdog refused to name them, but cited two it had investigated. 

The We Care Foundation, operating in England, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, had its accounts frozen over payments to trustees.

Also, the Chabad Lubavitch centres in north-east London and Essex received a warning after setting up a fundraiser for an Israeli soldier. 

At least 70 charities linked to the war in Gaza have been referred to police by a watchdog over potential criminal activity, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Pictured: Search and rescue efforts after an Israeli attack on the Rimal neighbourhood in northern Gaza on August 30, 2025 

The Charity Commission said criminal investigations could take place into groups ‘supporting different sides of the Middle East conflict’. Pictured: An injured Palestinian being taken to hospital after an Israeli attack on the Rimal neighbourhood in northern Gaza on August 30, 2025 

The watchdog has opened more than 300 regulatory cases involving charities with an Israeli or Hamas focus in the past 18 months. Pictured: Palestinians try to receive hot meals distributed by charities in Gaza City on August 30, 2025 

Charities cannot directly support a soldier of a foreign power.

It comes after the bodies of two Israeli hostages were recovered from Gaza earlier this week, during an operation by Israel’s military. 

Israeli troops retrieved the remains of Ilan Weiss and those of an unnamed captive.

Mr Weiss, 56, was killed on the morning of October 7, 2023, during Hamas’s onslaught while defending Kibbutz Be’eri but his body was held by Hamas for 693 days.

His wife, Shiri, 53, and daughter, Noga, 18, were also taken hostage but returned to Israel in November 2023 as part of a week-long truce.

The identification process of the second body is being carried out at a forensics institute.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: ‘The campaign to return the hostages continues. 

‘We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our hostages home – both the living and the dead.’

Israeli troops retrieved the remains of Ilan Weiss (pictured) and those of an unnamed captive earlier this week  

It came after Israel launched an offensive on the region, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee. Pictured: Smoke billowing after an Israeli airstrike on Palestinian territory on August 29, 2025

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) said: ‘The campaign to return the hostages continues’  

According to official statistics, 48 hostages now remain in Gaza and Israel believes only 22 are alive.

It came after Israel launched an offensive on the region, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee.

Israeli military declared Gaza City ‘a dangerous combat zone’ earlier this week as it prepared to seize the Palestinian territory’s largest city after almost two years of war.

IDF spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee wrote on X: ‘We have begun preliminary operations and the initial stages of the attack on Gaza City…

‘We will intensify our strikes and will not hesitate until we bring back all the hostages and dismantle Hamas militarily and politically.’

The IDF had been implementing military pauses in the Strip to facilitate the distribution of humanitarian supplies.

But the military said it would suspend the pause in the region where around half of Gaza’s 2.1million residents are sheltering.

More than 63,000 Palestinians have now reportedly been killed during the war in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 

The conflict has now gone on for 23 months after a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which saw around 1,200 people killed and about 250 taken hostage.