Israel’s Defense Minister has wasted no time confiscating over $800K in cryptocurrency believed to have been sent to Hamas to fund its military activities.
Hamas is shrinking ground under its feet, as Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz deals another blow to its efforts to bypass traditional financial channels. The minister has authorized the seizure of over $800K worth of cryptocurrencies, which are believed to have been used to fund Hamas. The funding is believed to have reached Hamas through a cryptocurrency exchange owned by the Gazan family. The exchange is known to annually transfer large sums of money to Hamas and has been labeled a terrorist organization by Israel.
Hamas operates a sophisticated network of currency exchange that allows goods and money to be imported to fund its military operations. The funding network was uncovered through the Intelligence of the Israeli Defense Forces, the National Headquarters on Terrorist Economic Counter-Terrorism at the Ministry of Defense, the Cybercrime Department of the Lahav 443 Major Crime Unit of the Israel Police, and the Cyber Unit of the State Attorney’s Office.
Gazan family exchange trapped
The Defense Minister recently authorized the seizure of a crypto wallet belonging to the aforementioned Gazan family, which was using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to raise funds online for Hamas. The exchange has been on the radar of the Israeli authorities for a few years now.
In 2019, Israel Defense Forces the killing Hamid Ahmed Khudari in Gaza, who used digital currencies to transfer Iranian money to Hamas and fund jihad. The money was used to build rockets that were deployed against Israel. Following this murder, activity on the exchange increased, raising suspicion, and further investigation.
there is no place to hide
In early 2020, the US Justice Department announced a rebuilding of terrorism financing operations run by Hamas’ military wing, al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS. Hamas’ military arm called the Al-Qassam Brigade offered instructional videos on how to anonymously donate cryptocurrencies earmarked for use in violent activities. Several US authorities, including the Independent Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), were able to track and confiscate all cryptocurrency accounts used to send money to the Al-Qassam Brigade and to conduct searches on US citizens. were suspicious. Donation
Al-Qaeda operated a bitcoin money-laundering network that used Telegram channels and other social media platforms to raise donations. At the time, the seizure was the largest seizure of cryptocurrencies used in terrorism by US authorities. More than 300 cryptocurrency accounts and millions of dollars were confiscated.
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