US and partners announce task force aimed at countering flow of money to Hamas
- The task force will enhance sharing of financial intelligence on terrorist-financing related matters, the US Treasury Department said in a statement
- The statement said a core mission of financial intelligence units was to ‘detect, disrupt and prevent the financing of terrorism’
The US said on Monday that after Hamas’ assault on Israel last month, it and several allied nations established an international task force aimed at countering the flow of money to the militant Palestinian group and supporting anti-terrorism efforts.
Since 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attack, the US, UK and allies have sought to cut off funding for Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist group by Washington and other governments.
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The task force will enhance sharing of financial intelligence on terrorist-financing related matters and will discuss best practices and opportunities for additional actions and partnerships, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
It will also strengthen relations between the financial intelligence units, public authorities and the private sector to address the threat, the statement said.
The task force is made up of financial intelligence units (FIUs) from Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK and the US as well as other units.
Since the October 7 attack, Washington has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Hamas. It has targeted the group’s investment portfolio and issued an alert to financial institutions on countering Hamas financing while senior officials have discussed the group’s access to funds on trips abroad.
“The October 7 terror attacks on Israel served as a grave reminder of a core mission of our FIUs: to detect, disrupt and prevent the financing of terrorism,” the statement said.
