The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday announced sanctions against an official associated with Hamas for his involvement in cyber influence operations.
Hudhayfa Samir ‘Abdallah al-Kahlut, 39, also known as Abu Ubaida, has been the public spokesperson for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, since at least 2007.
“He publicly threatened to execute civilian hostages held by Hamas following the terrorist group’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023,” the Treasury Department said.
“Al-Kahlut leads the cyber influence department of the al-Qassam Brigades. He was involved in the acquisition of servers and domains in Iran to host the official website of the al-Qassam Brigades in collaboration with Iranian institutions.”
In addition to Al-Kahlut, two other people named William Abu Shanab, 56, and Bara’a Hasan Farhat, 35, for their role in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used by Hamas to conduct terrorist operations, including urban warfare and intelligence. gathering.
Both Abu Shanab and his assistant Farhat are said to be part of the Lebanon-based al-Shimali unit, where the former is commander.
In conjunction with the actions taken by the United States, the European Union imposed sanctions against the Al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Quds Brigades and the Nukhba Force for their “brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks” against Israel last year.
While the Al-Quds Brigades are the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Nukhba Force is a Hamas special forces unit.
The joint action, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said, aims to “disrupt Hamas’ ability to conduct further attacks, including through cyber warfare and UAV production.”
The development came just over two months after the US government sanctioned six Iranian officials associated with Iran’s intelligence agency for attacking critical infrastructure entities in the US and other countries.