An investigation in France and the US has spotlighted how Hamas appeared to channel money to terrorist operations using groups posing as humanitarian associations and cryptocurrency.
A report at Al-Ain media in the UAE noted on October 6 that there was a “French investigation into Hamas funding through cryptocurrencies; head of association imprisoned.” The report added that “the head of an association in the Gironde region of southwestern France was placed in pretrial detention on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation opened in Paris into suspicions that funds reached Hamas through humanitarian associations, according to a judicial source.”
The report appears linked to a statement by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) which said on October 2 it had “designated a member of Hamas’s military wing, along with two France-based individuals and two affiliated entities that provide critical financing to Hamas.
These designations expose a sophisticated, multi‑year financing architecture that moved more than $2 million to Hamas through deceptive charitable fronts and cryptocurrency channels, demonstrating the organization’s persistent ability to adapt its fundraising mechanisms to evade detection.”
According to the Treasury Department, the network had several levels. It identifies Saleem Abdallah Saleem al-Zaq (al-Zaq) as “a Gaza-based battalion deputy in the Hamas military wing who oversees a financial network that has used various money services businesses and cryptocurrency wallets to transfer significant funds to the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades.”
French 'sham fundraisers' used to finance Hamas
Meanwhile, in France, a group of “sham fundraisers” was used. “Faouzi Barika (Barika) and Amel Oualid (Oualid) operate from France, where they run purported charities ostensibly to raise money for humanitarian purposes to aid Gazan civilians. In reality, they partner with al-Zaq to raise and transfer money directly to him, which al-Zaq in turn funnels to Hamas. The Treasury says that “during the six years from 2020–2026, Barika, Oualid, and al-Zaq collected more than $2 million for Hamas, of which $1.5 million was collected after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Barika and Oualid sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency to al-Zaq, and al-Zaq has advertised both Barika’s and Oualid’s fundraising accounts on his own social media accounts.”
In France, Barika is accused of jointly establishing “France-based Association Baraka with al-Zaq, which he uses as a mechanism to solicit public donations that are sent to al-Zaq for transfer to Hamas. Oualid established France-based Ensemble C Mieux, which, like Association Baraka, she uses to raise money to send to al-Zaq and Hamas.”
The report at Al-Ain appears to reference this connection, noting that Faouzi I the head of Barika and “along with four other people, faces charges brought by the judicial authorities in Paris on Friday, including ‘financing a terrorist entity, specifically Hamas,’ ‘breach of trust within an organized gang,’ and ‘money laundering resulting from breach of trust within an organized gang linked to a terrorist entity.’”
The report goes on to say that “the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office [in France] had requested that Fawzi B. be placed in pretrial detention, while the suspect requested a postponement of the hearing to prepare his defense. He appeared before a judge on Tuesday who ordered his detention, according to the judicial source.”
The October 2 statement from the Treasury in the US appears to have enabled or been timed with the French arrests. Arab News said on October 3 that “five people have been charged in France on suspicion of sending funding via humanitarian groups to a third party seeking to collect money for Hamas, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said Saturday.”
The report noted that PNAT had told the AFP that “five were taken into custody on Tuesday by investigators from the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), which is leading the investigation.” The inquiry had been opened Friday, the same day that the Treasury released its details. “Three of the five suspects were placed under judicial supervision on PNAT’s recommendation.”
France “requested the pretrial detention of the two association presidents”, but the first “was placed in pretrial detention pending a postponed adversarial hearing he had requested”, the public prosecutor’s office said. A lawyer told AFP that “my client participated in fundraising efforts for exclusively humanitarian purposes; his detention would be scandalous.”
The investigation focuses on the Gironde region of France, an area along the coast in southwest France not far from the Spanish border. The area is usually known for wine vineyards. The French news site Ouest France reported similar details to AFP and Al-Ain.
CoinDesk, which reports on crypto generally, noted on October 5 that “Treasury crackdown exposes crypto’s role in $2 million Hamas fundraising network.” They add that “the action is the latest indication that US authorities are focusing on crypto’s role inside wider fundraising and payment networks, rather than portraying it as Hamas’s primary funding source. Treasury officials have previously said Hamas and other groups still rely mainly on conventional finance, despite previously already being levied crypto-related sanctions and seizures.”
Wohl: US Treasury designations leave gaps
CoinDesk also noted that “it also follows reports last month that the Al-Qassam Brigades advised donors to avoid sending funds directly from Binance and instead use other crypto services before moving money to a TRON wallet.”
Ryan Wohl at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies noted, in a report on October 6 about the Treasury sanctions, that “The designations block the targets’ property in the United States, or in the possession or control of US persons, such as US banks, and generally prohibit US persons from dealing with the targets. But they leave two gaps: they cannot compel French banks to freeze euro-denominated accounts, and they do not identify the network’s cryptocurrency wallets.”
Wohl, an Education and National Security Research Associate at FDD, added that “French prosecutors have charged Barika and Oualid with financing Hamas, which they dispute. Neither of the designated associations appears in France’s national asset-freeze register, though their funds may already be restricted through the criminal proceedings. Three days after the designations, Association Baraka’s website was still asking donors to give through PayPal and to contact “our brother” in Gaza on Snapchat and WhatsApp.”
A document on the website of the US Congress notes some background on the role of cryptocurrencies in terror finance. “Although Hamas has reportedly solicited cryptocurrency donations, the scale and effectiveness of these efforts remain unclear.
Citing two cryptocurrency analytics firms and Israeli government seizure orders, the Wall Street Journal reported on October 10, 2023, that cryptocurrency wallets connected to Hamas received about $41 million between 2020 and 2023 and that wallets connected to another US-designated terrorist organization, the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), received as much as $93 million over a similar period.
Some observers have questioned whether the figures overestimate the amount Hamas received and the potential role of other, larger funding sources. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that Treasury is “investigating $165 million in cryptocurrency-linked transactions that may have helped finance Hamas” before the October 2023 attacks.”
This report added that “in 2019, Hamas engaged in a cryptocurrency donation campaign that led to the US seizure of several websites and 150 cryptocurrency accounts linked to the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz al Din al Qassam Brigades, in 2020.”
It goes on to note that “in connection with these enforcement actions, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged two foreign nationals for money laundering crimes related to their involvement in converting cryptocurrency into other forms of value. DOJ also prosecuted an individual for concealing material support to Hamas, including through Bitcoin. US enforcement actions in 2023 revealed that Qassam Brigades used Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions as early as 2019.”