Israel’s Defense Minister approves the seizure of cryptocurrency accounts related to Hamas

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Ganz signed an order allowing security forces to seize crypto accounts believed to be linked to the Hamas militia wing, the de facto government agency of the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

Ganz said that a joint security operation between the Department of Defense’s National Bureau of Countering the Financing of Terrorism and security forces has discovered “a network of electronic wallets,” believed to be related to Hamas and its ongoing fundraising efforts below Use of Bitcoin (BTC). other cryptocurrencies.

Hamas’ longstanding efforts to raise funds through crypto reportedly accelerated recently following an 11-day war between Israel and the organization in May this year. In his statement, Ganz presented the “intelligence, technological and legal instruments” that enabled the authorities to block the funds as “a breakthrough in operations”.

Details of the wallets seized by the segmenter show that they contain Tether (USDT), Ether (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP, Binance Coin (BNB), Zcash (ZEC), Litecoin (LTC) and many other Altcoins. A significant number of wallets have been linked to the named individuals, but most have been classified as anonymous by the authorities.

Hamas has switched to cryptocurrency in whole or in part from a number of countries and international blocs – including the United States and the European Union – due to its financial isolation resulting from its classification as a terrorist organization. Russia, Turkey and China are among those who did not call Hamas a terrorist entity.

Connected: Hamas’s militant wing has reportedly used multiple BTC wallet addresses to evade authorities

The organization, which has been administering the Gaza Strip since 2007, includes a social service called “Dawah” and a militia wing “Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades” that are behind much of the operation’s activities. Over the years, the al-Qassam Brigades have developed increasingly sophisticated strategies to prevent law enforcement agencies from red flagging wallets in connection with their campaign.

According to an online report by the International Interagency Center’s International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) published in 2020, the digital wallet is believed to be linked to both Hamas and the al Brigades (the Palestinian military wing. Popular Resistance Committee) has managed to raise almost 3,370 BTC over a period of four years.