The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed its fifth round of sanctions against Hamas since the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
The U.S. Treasury announced in a press release on the 22nd that it had imposed additional sanctions on Hamas in response to a terrorist attack that occurred in Israel in October 2023.
The latest sanctions target a network of Hamas-linked exchanges in Gaza, their owners, associates and financial facilitators involved in fund transfers, including cryptocurrency transfers, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Forces to Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
According to the Treasury, Hamas utilized a variety of methods, including cryptocurrency, to transfer funds from Gaza to the West Bank. Herzallah Exchange and General Trading Company LLC (known as Herzallah Exchange), owned by Muhammad Fallah Kamil Hirzallah, Na’im Kamil Raghib Hirzallah, and Salah Kamil Raghib Hirzallah, have been identified as facilitating transactions, including the use of cryptocurrencies. The Treasury Department said Samir Herzallah and Brothers For Money Exchange and Remittances (known as Samir Exchange) also collaborated with Hamas to facilitate money transfers.
“Hamas has sought to utilize a variety of financial transfer mechanisms, including the use of cryptocurrencies, to raise funds to support the group’s terrorist activities.”
Brian E. Nelson, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence;
The report does not specify which cryptocurrencies were used by the exchange to facilitate financial transactions. According to the report, U.S. authorities worked with the United Kingdom and Australia to impose sanctions on key Hamas officials and enablers.
As crypto.news previously reported, the Israeli police’s Rahav 433 cyber unit blocked cryptocurrency accounts belonging to Hamas, days after the Palestinian militant group launched an attack on Israel, killing hundreds of civilians. Israel reportedly ordered Binance to find and close the accounts on its platform. Lahav 433 also reportedly asked British police to block Hamas-linked accounts at Barclays Bank.