Israel Moves to Seize Hamas Funds in Europe

A Hamas rally in Gaza (AFP)
A Hamas rally in Gaza (AFP)
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Israel Moves to Seize Hamas Funds in Europe

A Hamas rally in Gaza (AFP)
A Hamas rally in Gaza (AFP)

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has signed administrative memorandums allowing the confiscation of funds paid to five senior Hamas officials working in Europe, amounting to more than $1 million, according to Israel Hayom newspaper.

The new step is part of an ongoing campaign by the security establishment in Israel, in partnership with the General Security Service and the Israeli Bureau for Combating Terrorist Financing, aiming to thwart the Hamas movement's organizational infrastructure and financial resources within the European Union (EU).

The memorandums claimed that these senior officials worked within the framework of a foreign branch of Hamas, led by Khaled Meshaal, to raise funds and gain public support.

Israel says hundreds of thousands of dollars were transferred to these people to promote Hamas' activities within the EU.

Israeli media reported that Hamas activists reside in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Italy.

In the past few years, the Israeli security services have increased monitoring of the routes and transfers of Hamas funds, including money transferred to the movement in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and abroad.

The army intelligence monitored Palestinian money exchangers in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip and thwarted hundreds of money transfers.

Israel closed accounts, seized assets in West Bank banks, killed a money exchanger in Gaza, closed institutions, and began following up the movement's money transfers from abroad.

About a week ago, investigators in the Netherlands arrested a man and his daughter on charges of sending $5.4 million to Hamas in violation of EU sanctions, according to the public prosecution office.

The man, 55, and his old daughter, 22, from Leidschendam near The Hague, were arrested on June 22 on suspicion of providing extensive financing to Hamas.

Investigators found the money during house searches in Leidschendam, a business in Rotterdam, and a bank account of about 750,000 euros.

The public prosecution office said the pair are suspected of sending about 5.5 million euros ($6 million) to bodies "related to the organization Hamas, which was sanctioned in 2003."

The father and daughter "are also suspected of participating in a criminal organization whose purpose is to support Hamas financially," the prosecution statement said. They remain in custody. Their names were not released, in line with Dutch privacy regulations.

The European Union blacklisted Hamas after the September 11, 2001 attacks that targeted New York and Washington.

Israel works closely with the US and Europe to prosecute the movement's funding sources.



Gazans Struggle to Find Water as Clean Sources Become Increasingly Scarce

 Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
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Gazans Struggle to Find Water as Clean Sources Become Increasingly Scarce

 Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza City residents have lost their main source of clean water in the past week after supplies from Israel's water utility were cut by the Israeli army's renewed offensive, municipal authorities in the territory said.

Many now have to walk, sometimes for miles, to get a small water fill after the Israeli military's bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza City's eastern Shejaia neighborhood, in the north of the Strip, damaged the pipeline operated by state-owned Mekorot.

"Since morning, I have been waiting for water," said 42-year-old Gaza woman Faten Nassar. "There are no stations and no trucks coming. There is no water. The crossings are closed. God willing, the war will end safely and peacefully."

Israel's military said in a statement it was in contact with the relevant organizations to coordinate the repair of what it called a malfunction of the northern pipeline as soon as possible.

It said a second pipeline supplying southern Gaza was still operating, adding that the water supply system "is based on various water sources, including wells and local desalination facilities distributed throughout the Gaza Strip".

Israel ordered Shejaia residents to evacuate last week as it launched an offensive that has seen several districts bombed. The military has said previously it was operating against "terror infrastructure" and had killed a senior militant leader.

The northern pipeline had been supplying 70% of Gaza City's water since the destruction of most of its wells during the war, municipal authorities say.

"The situation is very difficult and things are getting more complicated, especially when it comes to people's daily lives and their daily water needs, whether for cleaning, disinfecting, and even cooking and drinking," said Husni Mhana, the municipality's spokesperson.

"We are now living in a real thirst crisis in Gaza City, and we could face a difficult reality in the coming days if the situation remains the same."

WORSENING WATER CRISIS

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have become internally displaced by the war, with many making daily trips on foot to fill plastic containers with water from the few wells still functioning in remoter areas - and even these do not guarantee clean supplies.

Water for drinking, cooking and washing has increasingly become a luxury for Gaza residents following the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, whose fighters carried out the deadliest attack in decades on Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people in southern Israel and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign, Palestinian authorities have said.

Many residents across the enclave queue for hours to get one water fill, which usually is not enough for their daily needs.

"I walk long distances. I get tired. I am old, I’m not young to walk around every day to get water," said 64-year-old Adel Al-Hourani.

The Gaza Strip's only natural source of water is the Coastal Aquifer Basin, which runs along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the northern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, through Gaza and into Israel.

But its salty tap water is severely depleted, with up to 97% deemed unfit for human consumption due to salinity, over-extraction and pollution.

The Palestinian Water Authority stated that most of its wells had been rendered inoperable during the war.

On March 22, a joint statement by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics and the Water Authority said more than 85% of water and sanitation facilities and assets in Gaza were completely or partially out of service.

Palestinian and United Nations officials said most of Gaza's desalination plants were either damaged or had stopped operations because of Israel's power and fuel cuts.

"Due to the extensive damage incurred by the water and sanitation sector, water supply rates have declined to an average of 3-5 liters per person per day," the statement said.

That was far below the minimum 15 liters per person per day requirement for survival in emergencies, according to the World Health Organization indicators, it added.