Dec 27 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday announced an additional $2.5 billion of economic aid for Ukraine.

The assistance will help Ukraine unlock financing from the International Monetary Fund, Carney said during an appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who also spoke briefly to reporters.

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Hamas is rebuilding a new Gaza terror apparatus and using the ceasefire with Israel to boost its military, restore a problematic leadership structure and recruit a new generation of teenage fighters, according to a leading national security analyst.

Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital that the pause in fighting has given Hamas breathing room to regroup.

“Everything that is happening will continue happening as long as Hamas continues to effectively control the western part of the Gaza Strip,” Michael said.

“Generally speaking, Hamas now has full freedom of movement,” he warned.

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Since Israeli forces withdrew from parts of Gaza in October under a new ceasefire framework, Hamas has moved to fill the power vacuum.

At the time, police forces returned to the streets as Hamas fighters targeted and executed suspected opponents.

Multiple reports indicate Hamas is now rebuilding across significant portions of Gaza, including areas where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) previously operated.

A December report by the Jewish News Syndicate found that Hamas is “actively rebuilding its regime of terror” in nearly half of the territory it controls.

TREY YINGST: HAMAS MUST ACCEPT TRUMP PEACE PLAN TO END WAR ONCE AND FOR ALL

Hamas is also preparing to elect a new political leader following the deaths of Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

According to The Jerusalem Post, senior Hamas figures Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Mashaal are the contenders, with Hayya seen as the favorite because of his popularity in Gaza and his role in the West Bank.

Michael said the leadership race is unlikely to alter Hamas’s already dangerous course.

“Both leaders are problematic,” he said. “Each one, in his own way, is considered to be more militant and more radical in his Gazan orientation and his support for armed resistance.”

Even Mashaal, often described as more politically oriented, “is still in favor of the continuation of armed resistance,” Michael added.

TRUMP WARNS HAMAS WILL BE ‘HUNTED DOWN, AND KILLED’ UNLESS ISRAELI HOSTAGES RELEASED BY SUNDAY

“When it comes to Hamas, it doesn’t really matter who is going to be the next political leader of this terror organization.”

Michael said one of the most alarming developments is Hamas’s growing success in recruiting teenagers during the ceasefire.

“It has become very easy for Hamas to recruit teenagers now because they effectively control the western part of the Gaza Strip,” he said, noting Hamas has become “the most reliable employer in the Gaza Strip,” offering small incomes to boys as young as 16 or 17.

“It seems to be very natural for them to join Hamas, because some of them have also lost relatives, and therefore there’s a revenge incentive.”

“They also might prefer to be in the bullyish-types of neighborhoods, like in the ghettos in Chicago,” he said.

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Michael suggested that because Hamas has “full freedom of movement, they have also been rebuilding tunnels.”

“They also appointed new governors to the different districts in Gaza and are reconstituting their government and military stockpiles,” Michael added.

The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa bans on a former European Union commissioner and four others, accusing them of forcing American social media platforms to censor users and their viewpoints.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the five people targeted with visa bans “have led organised efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetise, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose”.

“These radical activists and weaponised NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio did not initially name those targeted, but US Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers identified them on X, accusing the individuals of “fomenting censorship of American speech”.

The most high-profile target was Thierry Breton, a French former business executive who served as European Commissioner for the Internal Market from 2019 to 2024.

Rogers described Breton as the “mastermind” of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU digital sphere rulebook that imposes content moderation and other standards on major social media platforms operating in Europe.

The visa bans also targeted Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German nonprofit HateAid, Clare Melford, co-founder of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index, and Imran Ahmed, the British chief executive of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Breton responded to the visa ban on X by writing: “Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back?”

“As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament — our democratically elected body — and all 27 member states unanimously voted for the DSA,” Breton added. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is.’”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France “strongly condemns” the visa restrictions, adding that Europe “cannot let the rules governing their digital space be imposed by others upon them”.

“The Digital Services Act (DSA) was democratically adopted in Europe … it has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way affects the United States,” Barrot said.

The three nonprofits have also rejected Washington’s claims and criticised Tuesday’s visa ban decision.

The letter that started it all?

Rogers specifically referenced a letter Breton sent to X owner Elon Musk in August 2024, ahead of an interview Musk planned to conduct with then-US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In the letter, Breton warned Musk that he must comply with the Digital Services Act, according to reports at the time.

Rogers accused Breton of having “ominously reminded Musk of X’s legal obligations and ongoing ‘formal proceedings’ for alleged noncompliance with ‘illegal content’ and ‘disinformation’ requirements under the DSA.”

In February, US Vice President JD Vance used one of his first major speeches after taking office to criticise what he described as censorship efforts in Europe, delivered at the Munich Security Conference.

He claimed that leaders had “threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation,” citing the example of the COVID-19 lab leak theory.

The DSA stipulates that major platforms must explain content-moderation decisions, provide transparency for users and ensure researchers can carry out essential work, such as understanding how much children are exposed to dangerous content.

The EU digital rulebook has become a rallying point for US conservatives who see it as a weapon of censorship against right-wing voices thought in Europe and beyond, an accusation Brussels denies.

The European Commission dismissed US censorship allegations back in August, calling them “nonsense” and “completely unfounded”.

Earlier this month, the European Commission found Musk’s X in breach of DSA rules on transparency in advertising and verification methods, sparking another uproar in the US.

Romane Armangau contributed additional reporting.