The United States and the United Kingdom announced new sanctions against Hamas on Wednesday in response to its deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
The sanctions “target key officials who perpetuate Hamas’ violent agenda by representing the group’s interests abroad and managing its finances,” the US Treasury Department disclosed.
The US has increased pressure on the Palestinian militant group since its October attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took approximately 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
The Palestinian militant group “continues to rely heavily on networks of well-placed officials and affiliates, exploiting seemingly permissive jurisdictions to direct fundraising campaigns and funneling those illicit proceeds to support its military activities in Gaza,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said.
Over a dozen officials and facilitators of the Palestinian militant group are targeted by the sanctions, including Gaza-based Ismail Barhum, who the agency claims worked as a regional finance executive “to aggregate money from global fundraising into official Hamas finance ministry accounts.”
According to the British Foreign Office, also sanctioned were Gaza-based Hamas cofounder Mahmud Zahar, as well as Lebanon-based Ali Baraka, the group’s head of external relations, “who has publicly defended the October 7 attacks and sought to justify the taking of hostages.”
“Hamas can have no future in Gaza,” stated British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
“Today’s sanctions on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will continue to cut off their access to funding and isolate them further.”
He added, “We will continue to work with partners to reach a long-term political solution so that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace.”
The Palestinian militant group condemned the new sanctions “in the strongest terms” in a statement.
“This unjust decision, which is based on false claims and incitement by the Zionist entity, will not deter the Hamas movement from continuing its duty to defend the legitimate national rights of our Palestinian people,” it said.
