Israel's credit card companies on Tuesday scrambled to block thousands of their customers' cards, after Saudi hackers posted their numbers online alongside other personal information.

The Bank of Israel said in a statement that the credit card companies have identified the cards whose details were exposed and blocked them for use in Internet and telephone purchases. It also reassured victims that they will not bear responsibility for fraudulent use of their cards in accordance with the Debit Card Law.

A Saudi hacking group calling itself Group-XP overnight Monday exposed the credit card details of some 15,000 Israelis, after breaking into one of the country's popular sports websites.

The group claimed to have retrieved the details of 400,000 cards from several Israeli websites, including their owners' names, phone numbers and home addresses.

"We decided to give the world a gift for New Year -- the personal information of 400,000 Israelis," One hacker, identified as xOmar 0, wrote in a message, adding that his group sought to collect the credit card details of one million Israelis.

"We found the idea of 400,000 people crowding Israeli credit card companies and banks to complain, watching Israeli banks shredding the cards -- appealing," he explained.

As credit card companies were feverishly working to block thousands of cards, Israeli newspapers published the hacked list on their websites, enabling readers to check whether they are among the victims.

"Visa sent me a text message that my card has been blocked and will be replaced in the coming days," Adam Bihari, a 27-year-old student from Jerusalem, told Xinhua.

"I was reassured that the problem is being handled," said Bihari.

The companies that were targeted -- Leumi Card, Cal and Isracard -- calmed cardholders by pledging to compensate the victims, saying all steps were being taken to deal with the occurrence.

Israel's central bank said its Bank Supervision Department was assisting the companies' investigation into the incident. It recommended that cardholders review charges on their monthly statements and report any problems.