Hazim Kasim, a spokesman for Hamas, railed against Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett’s recent decision to seize funds from 32 families of  Israeli-Arab terrorists,  Arutz 7 reported.

According to the report, Kasim claimed that the decision was a “continuation of the Zionist battle against the prisoners,” and said that Bennet’s decision amounted to “robbery”. He also called on the Palestinian Authority not to surrender to this “Zionist move”.

Bennett signed orders to seize the funds on Wednesday which went into effect immediately.

“These families received money from the Palestinian Authority for years as payment the terrorist attacks perpetrated by those terrorists. The murder of Jews will no longer be lucrative,” the Defense Minister added.

Last week, Bennett authorized the seizure of hundreds of thousands of shekels in payment to jailed terrorists and their families, in an unprecedented administrative order.

The decision was made just weeks after Bennett vowed to increase economic sanctions against terrorists. The recent move will block salaries that were being paid by the PA to Arab terrorists with Israeli citizenship.

In December, the Palestinian Authority was outraged after a decision by Bennett was made to transfer the Judea Samaria land registry from the IDF to the courts.