US sanctions six Palestinian aid groups it accuses of ties to Qassam Brigades
The US Treasury on Wednesday announced it is sanctioning six Palestinian aid organisations in Gaza that it accuses of being part of a "covert support network" for Hamas through its military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
The organisations were identified as Waed Society, Al-Nur, Qawafil, Al-Falah, Merciful Hands, and Al-Salameh.
"Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is taking action against Hamas’s covert links to nonprofit organizations," the announcement read.
It said members of Hamas’s internal security forces are "formally assigned to work in these so-called charities, specifically the Waed Society and Al-Salameh", and that Merciful Hands, Al-Nur, and Al-Falah "have directly transferred money to the Hamas military wing".
Qawafil is said to "complete projects that are intended to benefit Hamas".
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The websites and Facebook pages of these groups show projects designed to help amputees from a series of wars on Gaza, as well as advocacy campaigns for Palestinians held in Israel.
Merciful Hands and Al-Salameh provide medical support for critical war wounds, while Qawafil is a food and medicine distributor.
Al-Falah holds community support sessions and training courses to develop technical skills. The Waed Society and Al-Nur work to raise awareness and push for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
They all operate in Gaza, where Hamas has been leading the government since 1997.
Hamas was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) in the US in October 1997.
"Hamas’s insidious practice of operating behind civilian organizations endangers Palestinians and undermines efforts to build a lasting and prosperous peace. By exposing organizations with secret ties to Hamas, OFAC is strengthening the international community’s ability to support legitimate Palestinian interests," the Treasury's statement said.
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K Hurley added, “The Trump Administration will not look the other way while Hamas leadership and enablers exploit the financial system to fund terrorist operations.”
Frozen assets
The US also named The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which it says has been the coordinator of the flotillas that have sailed to Gaza in an attempt to break the nearly two-decade-old Israeli siege of the enclave.
The Treasury called it "a front organization for Hamas [that] operates in accordance with Hamas directives", citing a 2018 letter from the late Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, which points to the PCPA as a useful tool for Hamas's international outreach.
The PCPA's founder, the UK-based Zaher Khaled Hassan Birawi, was also sanctioned on Wednesday.
The Trump administration maintained that it does not "sanction persons for their engagement in activities subject to US constitutional protection, such as protected speech or religious practice or for their religious beliefs", and that "members of the Palestinian diaspora have a right to gather and advocate for their legitimate political concerns".
"It is Hamas, through their insidious strategy of hiding behind civilians while using terrorism to attempt to achieve political aims, both in Gaza and abroad, that puts innocent lives at risk and undermines international efforts to build a lasting peace and a prosperous future for all Palestinians," the statement said.
The designations mean that all assets belonging to sanctioned groups or individuals in the US are now frozen, and they can no longer conduct transactions via US banking systems. This means that credit cards like Visa or Mastercard become unusable.
Additionally, no US resident is permitted to carry out any transactions with or on behalf of sanctioned entities.
A statement released by the Qassam Brigades some three hours after the sanctions announcement made no reference to the decision, but condemned Israel's killing of three Palestinian photojournalists earlier in the day.
"We reiterate our call to the mediators and guarantor states, foremost among them the US administration, to take immediate action to stop the deliberate and systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement by the fascist occupation government and to compel it to fully implement its obligations," the Qassam Brigades said.
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