US Targets Hamas Operative, France-Based Fundraising Network

The United States has imposed sanctions on a Hamas military operative in Gaza and a France-based fundraising network that Washington says collected nearly 2 million US dollars for the Palestinian militant group through sham charities and cryptocurrency.

The designations were announced by the US Department of the Treasury, with the State Department saying the action was aimed at disrupting Hamas’s international financing networks.

Thomas Pigott, a State Department spokesman, said the measures were part of Washington’s efforts to identify and disrupt channels used by Hamas to raise and transfer funds internationally.

The State Department said the operation involved coordination between the departments of State and Treasury and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate what it described as the use of charitable and humanitarian structures to conceal terrorist financing.

Washington said it would continue working with partner governments, including France, to identify individuals and organisations it alleges provide financial support to Hamas.

The State Department said disrupting such networks was also intended to protect the integrity of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, arguing that legitimate aid should be delivered through organisations it considers reliable and safe.

The latest designations come as the US continues efforts to restrict Hamas’s access to international financial networks and target individuals and organisations accused of facilitating its financing.

Source: FSX Business News