Washington sanctions two French associations for funding Hamas

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned Faouzi Barika, co-founder of the Baraka Association, and Amel Oualid, founder of Ensemble C Mieux, by adding them to its blacklist. According to Washington, they allegedly collected donations for humanitarian aid before transferring funds to Saleem Abdallah Saleem al-Zaq, a Hamas official in Gaza, who has also been sanctioned. The assets of sanctioned individuals and entities in the United States are frozen, and American citizens can no longer conduct transactions with them. Between 2020 and 2026, Barika, Oualid, and al-Zaq are said to have raised over $2 million for Hamas, including $1.5 million after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. They reportedly sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrencies to al-Zaq, who oversaw a funding network for the Al-Qassam Brigades. These sanctions are part of a broader operation by U.S. authorities against the financing of Hamas.

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