U.S. Treasury Department OFAC sanctions individuals and groups funding Hamas in France

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Seong-min = The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on the 2nd (local time) that it had placed two individuals, two organizations, and one Hamas member in France who had provided funds to the Palestinian armed political faction Hamas on its sanctions list.

According to OFAC, two people, Fouzi Barika and Amel Oualid, who are active in France, are suspected of setting up a fake charity, collecting funds, and then transferring the money in virtual currency to Salim Abdallah Salim Al-Zak, a senior member of Hamas' military organization.

OFAC explained that the funds they have raised for Hamas over the six years from 2020 to this year are more than $2 million (about 2.7 billion won), of which $1.5 million is the amount raised after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which became the starting point of the war in the Gaza Strip.

OFAC said, “These sanctions uncover a financing structure that funneled more than $2 million to Hamas through deceptive charity organizations and virtual currency channels,” and added, “It shows that Hamas has continued to adjust its fundraising methods to avoid surveillance.”

“Terrorist organizations like Hamas rely on sophisticated financial facilitation and fraud schemes designed to exploit the public to sustain their operations,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. “Treasury will continue to identify, isolate, and punish those who provide a financial lifeline to Hamas.”