Israel police hits out at Hamas cryptocurrency haven, blocks accounts

In the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the cyber division of Lahav 433, a unit of the Israel Police, has successfully blocked cryptocurrency accounts associated with Hamas. These accounts were reportedly being used by the organization to solicit funds via social media platforms.

According to Israel’s news website Ctech, the operation was a collaborative effort involving Lahav 433, the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) under the Ministry of Defense, Shin Bet, and other intelligence agencies. Their objective was to identify and disable cryptocurrency infrastructures that terrorist organizations might exploit for fundraising.

Hamas had initiated a fundraising campaign on various social networks, urging the public to deposit cryptocurrencies into its accounts. The cyber unit and NBCTF promptly identified these accounts and froze them with the assistance of Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform. The confiscated funds are slated for transfer to the state treasury.

Interestingly, Binance had previously faced a lawsuit from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in March for multiple violations, including potential criminal activities such as money laundering. It was noted that Binance had not taken action against “Hamas transactions” on its platform in February 2019.

In a parallel operation, Lahav 433 collaborated with British law enforcement to freeze an account at Barclays bank in the UK that Hamas had publicly shared for receiving donations. The Israel Police and the Israel Defense Forces have reiterated their commitment to combating terrorism financing and seizing the strategic financial assets of terrorist organizations