US SANCTIONS
The US Treasury in October imposed sanctions on 10 key Hamas group members, operatives, and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere, including Sudan, Türkiye, Algeria and Qatar.
Mr Reimer said: “The US sanctions against financial facilitators in (multiple) countries have pointed out how vast and highly sophisticated this network is.”
However, with the scale of Israel’s campaign aimed at destroying the militant group, Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip – its main source of financing – is likely to be greatly diminished in the conflict, he said.
“If Hamas is no longer the de facto authority, that will reduce Hamas’ ability to generate revenue … which could force it to become more of a guerrilla-type organisation,” said Mr Reimer.
While the US is pressing allies to also toughen measures, there has been concerns that increased sanctions could impact humanitarian aid to Gaza’s residents.
AID DILEMMA
On October 19, a resolution by the European Parliament called for humanitarian assistance to be stepped up for Palestinians, while also highlighting the fear of the abuse of aid funds.
It urged the European Commission “to initiate a thorough review of all European Union financial assistance” to Palestinian territories and the region, “in order to ensure that no EU funds directly or indirectly financed any terrorist organisation”.
“There’s been plenty of discussion about competing priorities between delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza — which is absolutely essential — and concerns about aid and funds being syphoned off by Hamas, particularly its military wing the al Qassam Brigades,” Mr Reimer said.
Targeting the group’s investment portfolio would be more effective, he added, as the jurisdictions and stores of funds are far from the conflict zone.
“The conflict is hopefully going to shift our focus towards these financial facilitation networks, getting more countries on board and decreasing the tolerance that some countries have to allow this activity to occur on their soil,” he said.
However, he emphasised that aid needs to continue flowing into the besieged enclave.
“We’re in a situation where we have to accept that some of this diversion of humanitarian aid and funds (to Hamas) is tolerable because the alternative – to not allow humanitarian aid into the strip – leaves us in a no better position, whereby civilians are left to suffer,” he said.
“This will only push them further into the embrace of extremist groups such as Hamas.”
