US and UK impose additional sanctions on Hamas officials

The United States and the United Kingdom on Wednesday imposed a fourth round of sanctions on individuals in Turkey and elsewhere linked to the Palestinian Hamas militant group, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The sanctions target eight individuals who perpetuate Hamas’s agenda by representing the group's interests abroad and managing its finances, the Treasury said in a statement.

"Hamas continues to rely heavily on networks of well-placed officials and affiliates, exploiting seemingly permissive jurisdictions to direct fundraising campaigns for the group’s benefit and funneling those illicit proceeds to support its military activities in Gaza," said Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

Several of the Hamas officials targeted were based in Turkey, including one of the group's key financial operatives there, Haroun Mansour Yaqoub Nasser Al-Din, the Treasury said.

Haround Nasser Al-Din has been involved in a network that transferred money from Turkey and Gaza to the Hamas command center in the West Bank city of Hebron, it said, and helped subsidize Hamas activities to further unrest in the West Bank.

Nelson traveled to Oman and Turkey at the end of November to work on U.S. efforts to deny Hamas and other groups the ability to raise and move funds.

The United States and Britain earlier imposed three rounds of sanctions on the Palestinian militant group after its deadly incursion into Israel on Oct. 7.