Terrorism: US imposes sanctions on Hamas members and operatives settled in Algeria and other countries – Treasury Department

The American Department of the Treasury announced lately sanctions against ten key members of Hamas, operatives, and other financial facilitators. The sanctioned individuals are based in Gaza but also in Algeria, Qatar, Sudan, and Türkiye.

“The United States is taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

The American sanctions target in particular “members managing Hamas investment portfolios.” They target, among others, a financial agent based in Qatar “close to Iran” as well as those responsible for a cryptocurrency base located in Gaza, the treasury department said in a press release.

“These investment networks are run by the highest-ranking members of the Hamas leadership and allow them to live in luxury while Palestinians in Gaza face very difficult economic and living conditions,” the department of the Treasury added.

To date, Treasury has targeted nearly 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, Hizbollah, and other Iran-aligned terrorist groups in the region.

The sanctions provide for the freezing of all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.