October 4, 2026
The US Treasury Department called for expanding the scope of sanctions related to the financing networks of the Hamas movement, as the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed, on Friday, new sanctions targeting an individual in the movement’s military wing, along with two individuals and two entities in France. The Ministry accused them of participating in transferring more than two million dollars to the movement through charitable fronts and encrypted currencies.
The sanctions included Salim Abdullah Salim Al-Zeq, who was described as deputy commander of a battalion in the military wing of Hamas and residing in the Gaza Strip, in addition to Fawzi Barika and Amal Walid, and the two entities associated with them in France.
The US Treasury explained that the aforementioned network had worked for years to collect donations under a humanitarian cover, using cryptocurrency wallets and money transfer services. According to the ministry’s official account, more than $2 million was collected between 2020 and 2026, including about $1.5 million counted after October 7, 2023.
The statement indicated that Baraka and Walid used two French-based associations to raise funds, namely “Association Baraka” and “Ensemble C Mieux,” while Al-Zaq was accused of supervising a financial network that employed money transfer companies and digital wallets to deliver funds to the Qassam Brigades.
The announcement of the sanctions coincided with an American judicial move that included the unveiling of an indictment against Al-Zaq and others in cases related to collecting and transferring funds to Hamas. In parallel, it was reported that the French authorities arrested three people in connection with the case as part of a coordinated operation with the American side, recalling that judicial accusations remain subject to the course of the trial and their proof before the judiciary.
This step falls within an ongoing American strategy aimed at drying up Hamas’ funding sources and targeting cross-border fundraising and transfer networks, especially those that rely, according to American estimates, on digital currencies and charitable fronts as tools to bypass traditional tracking methods.
