Washington, DC [US], November 14 (ANI): The US has imposed its third round of sanctions targeting Hamas-affiliated individuals and entities since the October 7 attacks on Israel. The US has imposed these sanctions in coordination with the UK to disrupt these terrorist financing channels.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced this on social media X, “The United States, in coordination with the UK, is imposing sanctions on individuals and entities that have supported Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups. We continue to coordinate with our partners and allies to disrupt these terrorist financing channels.”
“This action designates key Hamas officials and the mechanisms by which Iran provides support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Today’s designations are coordinated with action by the UK and are aimed at protecting the international financial system from abuse by Hamas and its enablers,” the US Department of the Treasury said in an official statement. Moreover, it also stated that the US Department of State is concurrently designating a leader of PIJ’s military wing.
US Secretary of the Treasury stressed that the US, along with its partners, will continue to work to deny the Hamas’s ability to raise. “The United States will continue to work with our partners, including the UK, to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out its atrocities. Hamas’s actions have caused immense suffering and shown that terrorism does not occur in isolation. Together with our partners, we are decisively moving to degrade Hamas’s financial infrastructure, cut them off from outside funding, and block the new funding channels they seek to finance their heinous acts,” US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said.
According to the statement, the action builds on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) recent October 27 and October 18 designations of Hamas operatives and financial facilitators, as well as its May 2022 designation of officials and companies involved in managing Hamas’s secret international investment portfolio. “These targetted people are being designated pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, which targets terrorist groups and their supporters,” the statement said.
Moreover, the US Treasury Department noted that Iranian support, primarily through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has enabled Hamas’s and PIJ’s terrorist activities, to include the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in financial assistance and the furnishing of both weapons and operational training.
One of the key Hamas officials, Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar (Zahhar), who is a senior member and co-founder of Hamas and has worked closely with Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is also on the list of targeted people.
As per the sanction, “all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.” Additionally, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 per cent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
Moreover, unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally “prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.” (ANI)
US labels Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader a ‘Global Terrorist’, sanctions imposed on key Hamas officials
Washington, DC [US], November 15 (ANI): The US State Department on Tuesday (local time) labelled Akram al-Ajouri, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad‘s militant wing, as a specially designated global terrorist, CNN reported. The US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on “key Hamas officials and the mechanisms by which Iran provides support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Tuesday’s actions were the latest penal measures taken in response to the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel, and both the designation and sanctions are intended to imped individuals’ and organisations’ access to resources and funding, according to CNN.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Al-Ajouri also serves as PIJ Deputy Secretary General. A separate statement by the US Treasury stated that he “coordinated the militant training and recruitment operations for PIJ in Gaza, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon, and Yemen.”
Meanwhile, the Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, “a senior member and co-founder of Hamas who has worked closely with Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.”
“Zahhar has spoken publicly on behalf of Hamas, including in formal interviews, to threaten violence against Jewish civilians and emphasise its commitment to the destruction of Israel,” the Treasury Department said in a news release, adding, “As a Hamas representative, Zahhar has also acknowledged and thanked Iran for its support of Hamas.”
Another individual, Mu’ad Ibrahim Muhammed Rashid al-Atili, was also sanctioned on Tuesday “for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas,” according to CNN.
The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on PIJ Representative to Iran Nasser Abu Sharif, the Muhjat AlQuds Foundation, “a PIJ-run, Iran-funded organisation whose primary mission is to provide financial support to the families of PIJ fighters and prisoners,” and the foundation’s leader, Jamil Yusuf Ahmad ‘Aliyan.
The Treasury Department has also sanctioned the Lebanon-based money exchange company Nabil Chouman & Co, which, according to the department, Hamas uses to transfer money from Iran to Gaza, as well as its founder, Nabil Khaled Halil Chouman, his son Khaled Chouman and another Lebanon-based money exchanger, Reda Ali Khamis.
“For several years, the company has served as a conduit for transferring funds to Hamas, transferring tens of millions of dollars to the terrorist organisation,” CNN reported the Treasury Department as saying. (ANI)
