By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
U.S. officials have sanctioned six Gaza-based nonprofits, saying that they claim to provide medical care while secretly supporting Hamas’s military wing.
OFAC (the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control) said Hamas directly funds the Waed Society to run projects in Gaza and advocate for fighters captured by Israel. OFAC said the other five organizations sent funds “to the Hamas military wing”.
It said this included “over $2.5 million in funding that Al-Falah transferred to Hamas over a recent three-year period”.
The six organizations are:
- Waed Society Gaza (Waed Society), Al-Nur Society Gaza (Al-Nur), Qawafil Society Gaza (Qawafil), Al-Falah Society Gaza (Al-Falah), Merciful Hands Gaza (Merciful Hands), and Al-Salameh Society Gaza (Al-Salameh)
The sanctions freeze any assets or accounts that these groups have in the U.S.
OFAC also designated the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) as a “front organization” controlled by Hamas. The PCPA has organized civilian flotillas to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. OFAC also sanctioned Zaher Birawi, a senior PCPA official in the United Kingdom.
The agency warned that foreign financial institutions processing “any significant transaction” with these groups risk losing their U.S. correspondent or payable-through accounts.
“Hamas continues to show a callous disregard for the welfare of the Palestinian people,” said John Hurley, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “The Trump Administration will not look the other way while Hamas leadership and enablers exploit the financial system to fund terrorist operations.”
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