After declaring war against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to sever the group's funding and has reportedly ordered the freeze of more than 100 Binance accounts and seizure of funds believed to be linked to the Sunni Islamist political and military organization.
Israeli authorities have amped up their efforts to tackle the militant group's funding practices, targeting their cryptocurrency donations, believed to be one of the major sources of funds.
Israeli law enforcement, in collaboration with cryptocurrency exchange platforms, particularly with Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has ordered the shutdown of over 100 Binance accounts as well as the seizure of funds that contain millions of dollars in crypto, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with Israel's enforcement actions.
The Binance account shutdown reportedly started when Hamas started its assault against Israel on Oct. 7. Moreover, Israeli authorities have also requested Binance for information on around 200 more accounts that are currently put on hold by the exchange.
Binance reportedly confirmed that it had blocked a "small number" of accounts since summer and noted that it is just following "internationally recognized sanctions rules but declined to give further details.
Hamas, the Palestinian organization, which is considered a terrorist group by several Western countries and their allies, got around $41 million worth of crypto donations between August 2021 and June 2023, the Wall Street Journal said in a report based on data from forensics firm Elliptic and Tel Aviv software company BitOK.
Just last week, the Cyber Unit of Israel Police announced that its collaboration with Lahav 433, the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) under the Ministry of Defense, Shin Bet and multiple national intelligence agencies, with the assistance of Binance, has led to the successful freezing and seizure of the accounts allegedly used by Hamas for its fundraising activities.
"The Police Cyber Unit worked in coordination with the British police and managed to freeze an additional account at the British 'Barclays' bank, the details of which were published by Hamas for the purpose of depositing donation funds," Israel Police said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
"The Israel Police, Ministry of Defense and other partners will continue the fight against terrorist financing and targeting the strategic financial assets of terrorist organizations," it added.
Last week, Binance said that it is actively working with global law enforcement agencies and regulators to combat terror financing.
"Over the past few days, our team has been working in real-time, around the clock to support ongoing efforts to combat terror financing. We are committed to ensuring the safety and security not just of the blockchain ecosystem, but also the global community, through our proactive work," a Binance spokesperson said.