UK imposes sanctions targeting Hamas financing

The UK government has sanctioned individuals linked to Hamas, including financiers and leaders of the Palestinian militant group, saying the measures would help cut off its funding, including that which comes from Iran, Reuters has reported. The move was taken in coordination with the United States.

The British sanctions target Zuheir Shamlakh, a man known as Hamas’s “main money changer”, and a key figure involved in the group’s shift towards cryptocurrencies who helped transfer large sums of money from Iran to Hamas ahead of the group’s 7 October cross-border incursion against the occupation state of Israel.

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“These sanctions send a clear message to Hamas,” said British Foreign Secretary David Cameron. “The UK and our partners are committed to ensuring there is no hiding place for those financing terrorist activities.”

The sanctions also target a senior official of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and come at a time when Israel is accused of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

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