HSBC has informed the Ummah Welfare Trust that it will close its bank accounts because the charity “now falls outside our risk appetite”.

In a letter to the charity HSBC said it had recently conducted a review of its customer portfolio and has given Ummah Welfare Trust two months’ notice to find an alternative bank.

The charity believes that its relief work in Gaza prompted HSBC’s decision.  Its previous bank, Barclays, issued a similar notice during the 2008 Gaza conflict. It has tweeted that “the common denominator sadly seems to be Ummah Welfare Trust’s relief work in Gaza”.

“There was no indication of there ever being any issues with UWT’s account. The notification from HSBC has come unexpectedly,” the charity continued.

Donations made on the UWT are not affected as the charity’s online funds are managed by a merchant service, not HSBC. The charity also has accounts with two other banks - CAF Bank and Islamic Bank of Britain - and is putting new arrangements in place.

Mohammed Ahmed, trustee for the charity, called on the government to look into the issue, and said: “We suspect that this is linked to pressure groups against charities that are trying to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

The charity has urged its supporters to bombard HSBC with emails and tweets asking it to reinstate UWT as a customer.

For the financial year ended November 2012 the charity had an income of £16m, almost all of which is voluntary income. It carries out humanitarian aid work in a number of countries including Palestine.

A spokesman for the Muslim Charities Forum told Civil Society News that the umbrella body has noticed “a worrying trend over the last few years of financial institutions withdrawing services”.

In 2012 UBS closed Islamic Relief’s bank accounts and blocked donations coming from its customers to the charity.