US, UK Sanction Hamas Financiers; UK Issues Aid License

The U.S. and the U.K. this week released a new round of sanctions against people and entities helping to finance the terror group Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The designations target various PIJ and Hamas officials, a Lebanon-based money exchange company and others.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control said Nasser Abu Sharif is the PIJ representative to Iran, and PIJ political official Jamil Yusuf Ahmad ‘Aliyan helps operate the Muhjat AlQuds Foundation in Gaza, an Iran-funded organization that supports families of PIJ fighters and prisoners. OFAC also sanctioned Nabil Chouman & Co, a Lebanese money exchange company used to transfer money from Iran to Gaza, as well as the company’s founder Nabil Khaled Halil Chouman, his son Khaled Chouman and another Lebanon-based money exchanger Reda Ali Khamis.

OFAC also designated Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, a senior member and co-founder of Hamas, along with Mu’ad Ibrahim Muhammed Rashid al-Atili, who also has ties to Hamas. Along with the OFAC sanctions, the State Department designated Akram al-Ajour as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for leading the PIJ militant wing Al-Quds Brigade.

The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also designated Nabil Khaled Halil Chouman along with several other people connected to Hamas, including Muhammad Deif, Musa Muhammad Salim Dudin, Adbelbasit Elhassan Mohamed Khair Hamza, Marwan Issa and Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar. OFAC already has sanctioned those people, including some in an announcement last month (see 2310180003).

The U.K. also issued a new general license to authorize certain humanitarian aid-related transactions involving the “conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” The license took effect Nov. 14 and expires May 15.