(NewsNation) — The Treasury Department imposed another round of sanctions on Hamas-linked officials and financial networks, it announced in a news release Friday.
This action targets additional assets in Hamas’ investment portfolio, and those who are “facilitating sanctions evasion” by Hamas-affiliated companies, the news release said.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, traveling to London to shore up support from Britain, said the added sanctions “underscore the United States’ commitment to dismantling Hamas’s funding networks” by denying the militant group the ability to exploit “the international financial system.”
“We will not hesitate to take action to further degrade Hamas’s ability to commit horrific terrorist attacks by relentlessly targeting its financial activities and streams of funding,” Adeyemo said.
Those under these new sanctions include Khaled Qaddoumi, a Jordanian national and longtime Hamas member who the Treasury Department says is acting as a liaison for the Iranian government, as well as Ali Morshed Shirazi and Mostafa Mohammad Khani, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force officials “who train and assist PIJ, Hamas and Hezbollah.”
A number of organizations were sanctioned as well, such as the Iranian Bonyad Shahid, also known as the Martyrs Foundation, which officials say is affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iranian Bonyad Shahid, the news release said, provides millions of dollars through the Gaza-based and PIJ-affiliated Al-Ansar Charity Association for the families of militants affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Sanctions will freeze U.S.-based assets that are owned or controlled by these individuals and organizations and block financial transactions with those under them. They also prohibit the contribution of funds, goods and services to those designated as well.
This is the second round of sanctions the U.S. has put on Hamas group members, operators and their supporters. The first sanctions were placed Oct. 18 on members managing assets in a Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with ties to Iran, a Hamas commander and a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange.
“The United States is taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators following its brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement about the first round of sanctions.
Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 killed 1,400 people. In addition, 229 people were taken by Hamas and remain captive in Gaza. Four hostages so far have been released.
After the attacks, Israel declared war, launching relentless airstrikes on Gaza, which the Hamas-run Health Ministry says have killed 7,300 Palestinians. In addition, Israel sealed Gaza off from food, water, electricity and fuel, and ordered people from the northern part of the region to evacuate, even as it kept bombing areas deemed to be safe zones. Human rights groups have said this evacuation order could violate international law.
More than 110 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been killed in violence and Israeli raids since Oct. 7.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
