US sanctions charities it says are linked to Hamas's armed wing
The US on Tuesday sanctioned five individuals and five charities that it said were providing financial support to Hamas's military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, in addition to one charity it said was supporting the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (PLFP).
'Today's action underscores the importance of safeguarding the charitable sector from abuse by terrorists like Hamas and the PFLP, who continue to leverage sham charities as fronts for funding their terrorist and military operations,' Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender said in a statement.
'Treasury will continue to use all available tools to prevent Hamas, the PFLP, and other terrorist actors from exploiting the humanitarian situation in Gaza to fund their violent activities at the expense of their own people,' he added.
The US has long designated Hamas and the PLFP as terror organisations.
The sweeping sanctions hit organisations from the Middle East and Europe. Filistin Vakfi, a Turkey-based charity that the US said 'campaigned and raised funds with the clear intention of funding Hamas terrorist activities', was sanctioned along with its president, Zeki Abdullah Ibrahim Ararawi.
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The sanctions also targeted the Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation and the Italy-based Associazione Benefica La Cupola d'Oro.
The US said the former 'reports directly to the Hamas military wing and is composed of additional US-designated organizations that generate revenue for Hamas under the guise of legitimate charitable work'.
The US said the Italy-based organisation was founded by Mohammad Hannoun, previously sanctioned in October 2024, 'who publicly promoted the charity and used it to continue evading sanctions and raising revenue for the Hamas military wing through donors, many of whom were unwitting of the links to Hamas'.
The US also sanctioned Al Weam Charitable Society in Gaza for allegedly supporting Hamas's military wing and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association in the occupied West Bank over its alleged links to the PFLP.
The US sanctions will freeze any assets the organisations or people have within the US and bar them from conducting any US dollar-based financial transactions.
US sanctions carry heft because the dollar is the world's reserve currency.
The US has rolled out a steady stream of sanctions on Hamas since its military wing led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. In response, Israel unleashed a devastating assault on the Gaza Strip.
According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 54,981 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, including more than 28,000 women and girls.
The figure also includes at least 1,400 health sector professionals, 280 United Nations aid workers - the highest staff death toll in UN history - and 227 journalists, the highest number of media workers killed in conflict since the Committee to Protect Journalists began recording data in 1992.
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