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A Yemeni national living in Turkey and nine of his businesses have been hit by new US sanctions targeting an international Hamas fundraising network, according to a press release from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday.
The announcement of the new sanctions came on the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which sparked a new war between Hamas and Israel that is still continuing.
Yemeni national Hamid Abdullah Hussein al Ahmar, described as “one of the most prominent international supporters of Hamas,” and his nine businesses, three of which are in Turkey, have been targeted for providing assistance to Hamas. His other businesses are located in Yemen, Lebanon and the Czech Republic.
The new sanctions also target three individuals based in Europe, a sham charity and a Hamas-controlled financial institution in Gaza.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen vowed that the federal department will “relentlessly” degrade and destabilize Hamas and other Iranian proxies, preventing them from receiving financial support and committing terrorist acts.
“The Treasury Department will use all available tools at our disposal to hold Hamas and its enablers accountable, including those who seek to exploit the situation to secure additional sources of revenue,” Yellen said in the press release.
Hamas has used “sham and front charities that falsely claim to help civilians in Gaza” by abusing the nonprofit organization sector to generate revenue, the Treasury says. The Palestinian terrorist group had received as much as $10 million a month through these donations as of early 2024, per the department’s estimates.
The US Treasury’s actions mark the eighth set of sanctions against Hamas’s financial networks since October 7 of last year. The US has collaborated with the UK and Australia on past sanctions. It comes a month after the US Justice Department announced federal terrorism charges against senior leaders of Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar, known as the chief architect of the October 7 attack on Israel.
Turkey does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization. Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hosted members of Hamas many times over the years, and the country is known as a safe haven for Hamas operatives.
Erdoğan describes Hamas militants as “liberators” fighting for their land and people.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023 following the Hamas attack, has led to more than 42,000 casualties and massive devastation, according to the health ministry in Gaza.