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US, Britain Impose New Sanctions Against Hamas Operatives

by VOA News

   The United States and Britain on Wednesday imposed a fourth round of
   sanctions targeting funding operations for the Hamas militants fighting
   Israeli forces for control of Gaza.

   The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the new sanctions are
   aimed at eight individuals in Turkey and elsewhere who represent Hamas
   interests abroad and manage their finances.

   "Hamas continues to rely heavily on networks of well-placed officials
   and affiliates, exploiting seemingly permissive jurisdictions to direct
   fundraising campaigns for the group's benefit and funneling those
   illicit proceeds to support its military activities in Gaza," said
   Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and
   financial intelligence.

   Treasury identified one of the key Hamas financial operatives in Turkey
   as Haroun Mansour Yaqoub Nasser Al-Din, contending he has been involved
   in a network that transferred money from Turkey and Gaza to the Hamas
   command center in the West Bank city of Hebron to further unrest in the
   West Bank.

   The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets the Hamas operatives might hold in
   the U.S. and block them from making future transactions with American
   and British interests.

   The U.S. and Britain earlier imposed three rounds of sanctions on Hamas
   after its deadly incursion into Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200
   people and allowed the militants to seize about 240 hostages. In its
   retaliatory offensive attempting to end Hamas rule of Gaza, Israel has
   killed more than 18,000 people in the narrow territory along the
   Mediterranean Sea.

   Both the U.S. and Britain classify Hamas as a terrorist group.