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Facebook yesterday shut down the account of a senior Hamas leader over incitement to violence.

The closure of Ismail Radwan’s account follows similar action by Facebook last week against Hamas leader Salah Bardawail and Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh. In July, Facebook shut down accounts belonging to Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Politburo, Musa Abu Marzouk, Ezzat al-Rishq, a close associate to Hamas’s overall leader Khaled Mashaal, and a number of Hamas student leaders.

In response to the latest action yesterday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassim alleged that the closures were an act of Israeli “internet terror”.

He said: “The occupation fears the revelation of its scandalous crimes at the expense of the Palestinian people through posts on social media.”

Israeli leaders have long maintained that relatively uninhibited online incitement has played a major role in a wave of terror attacks by Palestinians, which has killed at least 40 people since October. The attacks have almost exclusively been carried out by lone individuals, who often post messages related to their actions on social media platforms such as Facebook.

Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan highlighted the role of social media in the wake of the July murder of 13-year-old Hallel Yaffe Ariel, who was stabbed to death in her bed by a Palestinian, where the attacker indicated on Facebook that he intended to commit a violent attack. Erdan and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked subsequently announced that they intend to introduce new legislation which would make it markedly easier to remove online content which incites violence or encourages terror.

The latest closures by Facebook follow recent legal action in the US by the families of Israelis and Americans killed by Palestinians in recent terror attacks. They are suing Facebook for £770m in a New York court, accusing the company of allowing their platform to be used by Hamas to promote and incite violence.