Israel Strikes on Hamas' Financial Backbone: Seizes Crypto Donations

As the Israel-Gaza war entered the fourth day, the cyber unit of Israel Police's Lahav 433 is now focused on crippling the channels through which Hamas receives financial support. The cyber unit also received support from the National Headquarters for Economic Combating Terrorism (METL) at the Ministry of Defense, the General Security Service, and other intelligence bodies, local media 0404 reported.

Stopping the Terror Group from Raising Funds

The action came as the terror group launched a fundraising campaign on social media for financial support from the public. Because of the heavy economic sanctions, they are asking for cryptocurrency donations.

Israel's cyber unit is also receiving cooperation from crypto exchange Binance to locate the Hamas-linked accounts and withdraw the funds into the state coffers. The Israeli authorities along with British counterparts are freezing a Barclays bank account, which was mentioned in the details published by Hamas for donations.

The Abuse of Crypto by Terrorists

Hamas has been seeking funds in cryptocurrencies for a long time. According to earlier reports, Israeli authorities have confiscated 189 cryptocurrency accounts on Binance for their links to Palestinian and Islamist terror groups since 2021. Three Palestinian currency exchange firms held those proxy accounts.

In 2022, the US authorities also targeted "an expansive network of three Hamas financial facilitators and six companies across the Middle East and North Africa that generated revenue for the terrorist group through the management of an international investment portfolio."

The Hamas terrorists initiated a rocket strike targeting Israel on Saturday morning and also infiltrated the borders on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The attack came as a surprise, resulting in the killing and kidnapping of several hundreds of Israeli civilians. Israel has never faced an attack like this on such a scale.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war against Hamas-controlled Gaza on Saturday, following retaliatory air raids on locations tied to Hamas. While Hamas still holds Israeli hostages, the Israeli government ordered a "complete siege" of the Gaza Strip on Monday.