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WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on six senior Hamas officials, the US Treasury Department said, in further action against the Palestinian militant group as Washington has sought to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
The Treasury Department said in a statement the sanctions targeted the group’s representatives abroad, a senior member of the Hamas military wing and those involved in supporting fundraising efforts for the group and weapons smuggling into Gaza.
“Hamas continues to rely on key officials who seemingly maintain legitimate, public-facing roles within the group, yet who facilitate their terrorist activities, represent their interests abroad, and coordinate the transfer of money and goods into Gaza,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.
“Treasury remains committed to disrupting Hamas’s efforts to secure additional revenue and holding those who facilitate the group’s terrorist activities to account.”
Among those targeted was Abd Al-Rahman Ismail abd Al-Rahman Ghanimat, a longtime member of Hamas’s military wing who is now based in Turkiye, the Treasury said, accusing him of being involved in multiple attempted and successful terrorist attacks.
Two other officials based in Turkiye, a member based in Gaza who has participated in Hamas’s engagements with Russia and a leader authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the group and who previously oversaw border crossings at Gaza were also among those targeted, according to the Treasury.
The US on Monday warned Turkiye against hosting Hamas leadership, saying Washington does not believe leaders of a terrorist organization should be living comfortably.
Asked about reports that some Hamas leaders had moved to Turkiye from Qatar, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller did not confirm the reports but said he was not in a position to dispute them. He said Washington will make clear to Turkiye’s government that there can be no more business as usual with Hamas.
Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year, Palestinian health officials say, and Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble, where more than two million Gazans are seeking shelter in makeshift tents and facing shortages of food and medicines.

BEIRUT: Italy’s defense minister said Tuesday that the Hezbollah group staged an attack on a UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon that it initially blamed on Israel.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had said in Brussels that Israeli forces staged the new attack on the UN base in the Lebanese town of Chamaa. But a defense ministry source said that Crosetto “did not have the right information” when he spoke. “Hezbollah was responsible for the attack,” the source told AFP.
The UNIFIL force has complained of increasing attacks since Israel started its campaign targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,544 people and wounded 15,036 in Lebanon since October 2023, with 28 fatalities reported on Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.