The Charity Commission has made over 30 referrals to the police relating to the war in Gaza, as criminal activity in charities increases across the board.

Following police referrals, charities have removed online content, suspended employees and contractors, and removed their organisations as signatories of open letters.

Current investigations triggered by the conflict run to more than 100, which could be a factor in the increase in suspected criminal activity.

In the last year – from March 2023 to April 2024 – 34 per cent of Serious Incident Reports (SIRs) submitted to the Charity Commission were related to criminal activity, according to The Times. This represents a 10 per cent increase on the previous year.

Notably, there has been an increase of nearly 17 per cent in the number of reports relating to safeguarding.

Last November, following the October 7 attacks, Orlando Fraser, the commission’s chair expressed concern over charities becoming “forums for hate speech”.

Writing in the Telegraph, Fraser said the commission was aware of a number of allegations of antisemitism and hate speech, and promised to deal with any wrongdoing “robustly”.