US, EU Issue Coordinated Hamas Sanctions

The U.S. and the EU last week announced coordinated sanctions against Hamas by targeting people and entities with ties to the terror group.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated several Gaza- and Lebanon-based leaders of the group’s “offensive cyber” and unmanned aerial vehicle operations, including Hudhayfa Samir ‘Abdallah al-Kahlut, the spokesperson for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in Gaza. OFAC also sanctioned William Abu Shanab, commander of the Lebanon-based al-Shimali unit of Hamas; Bara’a Hasan Farhat, an assistant to Abu Shanab; and Khalil Muhammad ‘Azzam, an intelligence official with the Shimali unit.

The EU sanctioned three entities: the Al-Quds Brigades, which is the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Nukhba Force, a special forces unit of Hamas; and the Qassam Brigades. The Council of the EU said all three are now listed under the bloc’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

The U.S.-EU joint action “reinforces our continued, collective focus on disrupting Hamas’s ability to conduct further attacks, including through cyber warfare and the production of UAVs,” or drones, said Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. He said the U.S. and allies will “continue to target Hamas’s facilitation networks wherever they operate.”