By Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Tuesday imposed a third round of sanctions aimed at Palestinian militant group Hamas following its attack last month on Israel, targeting leaders and financiers of the group.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the action, taken in coordination with Britain, targeted key Hamas officials and the mechanisms through which Iran provides support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a militant group that is an ally of Hamas and took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza.
“The United States will continue to work with our partners, including the U.K., to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out its atrocities,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.
“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.”
Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group’s fighters burst across the fence around the Gaza enclave on Oct 7 and rampaged through Israeli towns killing civilians. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and around 240 were dragged back to Gaza as hostages in the deadliest day of its 75-year history.
Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40 percent of them children, and countless others trapped under rubble. Around two thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the crowded territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Britain and others.
Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, a senior member and co-founder of Hamas, PIJ’s representative to Iran and the Damascus-based Deputy Secretary General of PIJ and leader of the its militant wing were among those sanctioned by Washington on Tuesday.
Lebanon-based money exchange company Nabil Chouman & Co was also targeted, along with its owner and founder. Treasury accused the company of having served as a conduit for transferring funds to Hamas and said it transferred tens of millions of dollars to the group.
Tuesday’s move freezes any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.
The move follows two rounds of sanctions targeting Hamas that Washington imposed last month targeting operatives and financial facilitators.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
