The Israel Police is stepping up efforts to stop funding for Hamas terrorism in the wake of the Islamist group’s cross-border assault on Oct. 7, the police said on Tuesday.
The National Cyber Crime Unit with the police’s Lahav 433 umbrella organization, which is popularly known as the “Israeli FBI,” worked in cooperation with the Defense Ministry and the Binance cryptocurrency exchange to close a Hamas-linked virtual wallet that was used to solicit funds in the wake of Saturday’s massacre, the police announcement said.
The Cyber Crime Unit also liaised with British law enforcement officials to freeze an account at the London-based Barclays bank, the details of which Hamas published to solicit donations.
Hamas killed at least 900 Israelis and wounded more than 2,700 on Saturday in a massive offensive that included the launch of thousands of rockets at the Jewish state.
The police said it was working in tandem with the Defense Ministry’s National Headquarters for Combating Economic Terrorism, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and other intelligence agencies to locate cryptocurrency accounts used to finance additional attacks.
In June, Israel for the first time seized cryptocurrency wallets tied to Iran’s Quds Force and its Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist proxy.
The “extensive and precedent-setting” effort resulted in the confiscation of millions of dollars worth of digital currency earmarked for terrorism, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
The Quds Force is the branch of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for external operations, including support for Gaza-based Hamas.
“Whoever finances terror or maintains economic ties to terror groups are targets, just like those directing terrorism,” Gallant said at the time.
