Overall, the bloc has so far blacklisted 12 individuals linked to agents. (Representative)
Brussels:
The European Union on Friday imposed asset freezes and visa bans on several companies and individuals accused of helping finance the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Brussels said.
The sanctions were the second round imposed by the EU on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups following the October 7 attack on Israel.
Overall, the bloc has so far blacklisted 12 individuals and three entities linked to the agents.
Among the latest targets were three shell companies used by prominent financier Hamza Abdelbasit to funnel funds to the group, including Spanish real estate firm Al Zawaya Group, and two others based in Sudan, an EU statement said.
Also hit were the head of Hamas’s “foreign investment activities”, a money changer that allows transfers from supporting Iran and the official responsible for the “Association of Charities” groups, he said.
The EU also said it was imposing sanctions on Ali Morshed Shirazi, a senior official in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who oversees Tehran’s links to Palestinian groups in Lebanon.
Top Hamas official Maher Rebhi Obeid, “responsible for directing Hamas terrorist operatives in the West Bank” was also included in the list.
Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP calculation based on Israeli figures.
Agents also captured hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, although the army says 42 are dead.
In response, Israel unleashed a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip, a stronghold of Hamas, which killed at least 37,765 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
EU diplomats said that following the latest sanctions on Hamas, the bloc should now impose a second round of measures against violent Israeli extremists in the West Bank.
The EU, made up of 27 countries – which has been fighting for a united position in the Gaza war – imposed sanctions in April on four “extremist” Israeli settlers and two groups over violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
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