The Japanese Government announced this Tuesday the imposition of new sanctions against Hamas, including the freezing of assets of three leaders of the Islamist movement, considered a terrorist organization by several countries.
The three responsible are the current leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, the military leader considered the mastermind of the terrorist attacks against Israel, Mohamed Deif, and the deputy commander of Deif, Marwan Issa, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The measure was approved at a meeting of the Japanese Council of Ministers and is in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, said Japanese Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The three Hamas officials “are linked to the October 7 attack on Israel” and “are believed to have accessed a Hamas fund to finance it,” Hayashi said.
The spokesperson added that Japan will consider imposing additional sanctions on more individuals or entities linked to Hamas to “cut off access to funds that finance terrorist activities.”
The new Japanese sanctions against Hamas officials came after the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom announced similar measures in recent weeks.
On October 7, Hamas commandos launched a terrorist attack on Israeli soil, during which they killed 1,139 people, most of them civilians, according to the most recent report by Israeli authorities.
That day, some 250 people were also kidnapped and transferred to Gaza, 129 of whom remain captives of the movement, in power in the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
Israel declared war on Hamas and in the bombings in the Gaza Strip, more than 20,600 people have been killed and more than 53,000 have been injured, most of them civilians. Most of the infrastructure was destroyed and nearly two million of the territory’s 2.3 million inhabitants were forced to abandon their homes.
The population of the Gaza Strip is also facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, due to the collapse of hospitals, the outbreak of epidemics and the shortage of drinking water, food, medicine and electricity.
Source: TSF
