By Norah ODonnell
As the devastating war between Israel and the Palestine terrorist group enters day four, the law enforcement unit has stepped up to restore peace in the country. An official communication from the Lahav 433 cyber division revealed that the Israeli police had suspended all crypto accounts owned by the Hamas group.
The police confessed that most of the blocked account tied to the terrorist group was used to raise funds through social media platforms.
Israeli Authority Freezes Accounts Owned by Hamas
An update from the Ctech, a local news agency, revealed that the Lahav 433 joined forces with the other intelligence units, including the Ministry of Defense National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing unit (NBCTF), to identify the accounts linked to the Hamas group.
Primarily, the collaborative efforts aimed at ensuring all crypto accounts owned by the terrorist group were suspended entirely. This development aimed at obstructing the channels used by Hamas to raise funds.
The law enforcers noted that the Hamas group leveraged their influential capabilities shortly after the unprecedented attack to establish a fundraising campaign. The report illustrated that Hamas urged the public to send their crypto contribution into their respective accounts during fundraising.
Police in Israel Suspends Hamas Crypto Fundraising
According to the announcement, the cyber unit collaborated with Binance and the NBCTF to identify the accounts used by the Hamas group. The exercise was successful after the intelligence units managed to freeze several accounts linked to the Hamas group. The cyber team revealed that the law enforcers seized all the funds on the blocked accounts and transferred them to the Israeli national treasury.
Besides suspending crypto fundraising conducted by the illicit group, the Lahav 433 engaged the British regulators to suspend bank accounts owned by the Hamas group. The law enforcers confessed that the Hamas group had created a bank account with the Barclays group, which was used to receive financial support from the public.
Israeli Authority Vows to Fight Financial Terrorism
The decisive action to clamp down on all the channels used by the Hamas group aligns with the objective of the Israeli Police and the Ministry of Defence to address financial terrorism. The law enforcers noted that the illicit group usually utilized crypto transfer to conceal their undertaking.
In March, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and the chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, for facilitating money laundering activities. The CFTC official claimed that the controversial crypto exchange and the CEO was aware of the suspicious transaction conducted by the Hamas group.