US offers $10 million for information on five Hamas financiers

The United States has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or disruption of the Palestinian terrorist group’s financial mechanisms of five Hamas financiers. This initiative follows four rounds of U.S. sanctions on Hamas, prompted by the group’s deadly incursion into Israel on October 7. Israel, in response, conducted military operations in Gaza, resulting in casualties and significant destruction, as reported by local health officials. The five are Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Khair, Amer Kamal Sharif Alshawa, Ahmed Sadu Jahleb, Walid Mohammed Mustafa Jadallah, and Muhammad Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah, who have all been previously designated global terrorists by the United States, the department said in a statement. The first financier, known as Hamza, is based in Sudan, has managed numerous companies in Hamas’ investment portfolio and was involved in the transfer of almost $20 million to Hamas, the department said. He is tied to Sudanese President Omar Bashir and Islamist groups undermining stability in Sudan, according to the State Department. Three of the Hamas operatives cited - Amer Kamal Sharif Alshawa, Ahmed Sadu Jahleb, and Walid Mohammed Mustafa Jadallah - are part of the group’s investment network in Turkey, the department said. Nasrallah has close ties to Iranian entities and has been involved in the transfer of tens of millions of dollars to Hamas, including its military wing, the agency said. The department said in October he was based in Qatar. The rewards would be provided for information on any source of revenue for Hamas, major donors, financial institutions that facilitate transactions for Hamas, front companies that procure dual-use technology for the group and criminal schemes that benefit Hamas, the State Department said. Meanwhile, at least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says several thousand Hamas fighters remain in northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been blasted into rubble. Heavy fighting is also underway in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli officials say Hamas’ military structure is still largely intact. Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and some 250 others were taken hostage. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. With inputs from Reuters.