OAN’s Stephanie Stahl
11:23 AM – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
The Biden administration is rolling out a new set of sanctions that aim to disrupt Hamas’s financial operations, including its missile program.
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On Wednesday, the Department of Treasury announced the decision, which will reportedly target 10 Hamas leaders and financial facilitators.
In a statement, the Department said that the package specifically focuses on “members managing assets in a secret Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties to the Iranian regime, a key Hamas commander, and a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange and its operator.”
The sanctions name Musa Muhammad Salim Dudin, a West Bank-based member of Hamas; and Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Mohamed Khair, a Sudan-based financier, as well as other operatives based in Turkey.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that the United States is taking “swift” and “decisive” action to disrupt Hamas’s financial assets following the brutal killings of Israeli civilians.
“The U.S. Treasury has a long history of effectively disrupting terror finance and we will not hesitate to use our tools against Hamas. We will continue to take all steps necessary to deny Hamas terrorists the ability to raise and use funds to carry out atrocities and terrorize the people of Israel. That includes by imposing sanctions and coordinating with allies and partners to track, freeze, and seize any Hamas-related assets in their jurisdictions,” Yellen continued.
Meanwhile, President Biden is visiting the Middle East to meet with Israeli officials and show solidarity. He was also initially scheduled to meet with leaders of the Palestinian Authority in Jordan. However, these plans were disrupted after Hamas accused Israel of striking a hospital with an airstrike, killing more than 400 people, according to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has since denied the accusation and provided evidence that the hospital explosion was actually caused by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that failed to reach its intended target in Israel.
After reviewing the evidence, President Biden expressed his conviction that Israel was not responsible for the incident.
“I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said of the attack, during a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday.
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