The U.S. Treasury Department announced a second round of sanctions Friday on the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Hamas-linked officials in response to its October 7 attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, including women and children.
The Treasury Department said in a statement the new sanctions, imposed through its Office of Foreign Asset Control, target Hamas financial networks, additional assets in Hamas’s investment portfolio and individuals who have facilitated the evasion of previous, existing sanctions.
The sanctions include members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp and a Gaza-based organization that funneled illicit funds from Iran to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The new sanctions follow an initial round of sanctions, imposed October 18, which designated Hamas operatives and financial facilitators, as well as its May 2022 sanctions designating officials and companies involved in managing Hamas’s secret international investment portfolio.
The agency said the secret Hamas portfolio is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, with companies operated under the guise of legitimate businesses in Sudan, Algeria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. Their representatives have attempted to conceal Hamas’s control over their assets.
The department release said Friday’s sanctions also are meant to underscore the critical role Iran plays in providing financial, logistical and operational support to Hamas.
In the statement, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the latest sanctions demonstrate the U.S. “commitment to dismantling Hamas’s funding networks by deploying our counterterrorism sanctions authorities and working with our global partners to deny Hamas the ability to exploit the international financial system.”
In a separate statement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States will continue to work with its partners to deny Hamas access to the international financial system “as part of our broader effort to prevent and deter its terrorist activity.”
Some information in this report was provided by Reuters.
