The United States imposed sanctions on Hamas for the third time since the seventh of last October (Reuters)
The United States and Britain on Tuesday imposed sanctions on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), targeting leaders and financiers of the movement, and Islamic Jihad officials.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement that the action, which was taken in coordination with Britain, targets senior Hamas leaders, in addition to "the mechanisms through which Iran provides support to Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States would continue to work with its partners, including the United Kingdom, to deny Hamas the ability to raise funds or obtain foreign funding and use it to carry out what she called "atrocities."
The Treasury Department estimated Hamas's financial assets at hundreds of millions of dollars.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Iran's support through the Revolutionary Guards allows Hamas and Islamic Jihad to engage in what he described as "terrorist activities," particularly through the transfer of funds, the supply of weapons and field training.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said his country would continue to use all means at its disposal to disrupt the "abhorrent activity of this terrorist organisation".
Sanctions targeted Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar (Al Jazeera)
Sanctioned figures
Among those affected by the US-British sanctions are senior leader and Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar, Islamic Jihad representative in Iran Nasser Abu Sharif, Islamic Jihad deputy secretary-general Muhammad al-Hindi, and Akram al-Ajouri, commander of its military wing.
The British government said the sanctions included four Hamas leaders and two of its financiers, adding that Hamas political leader Yahya Sinwar was among those targeted by today's sanctions.
The sanctions also included the Lebanon-based Nabil Shoman Exchange Company for allegedly making money transfers between Hamas and Tehran.
Islamic Jihad considered the US administration's inclusion of a number of the movement's leaders on the sanctions lists as "a continuation of alignment with the occupation," saying that Washington's designation of an institution that provides aid to the wounded and prisoners "is evidence of the US siege imposed on our people."
This is the third round of sanctions announced by Washington since the resistance launched the battle of the Al-Aqsa flood on October 7.
Israel, the United States, the European Union, Britain and other countries classify Hamas as a "terrorist group."
Source: Agencies