Hamas militants were sent millions in crypto in months before Israel terror attack

From the Telegraph

Hamas and its allies were sent hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of cryptocurrencies in the months before the terrorist group’s attacks on Israel.

More than $134m (£108m) was transferred to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by Hamas and the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group during the first half of 2023, according to analysts.

Analysis of blockchain records shows around $93m (£75m) of cryptocurrency was transferred to the PIJ alone between August 2021 and June this year, according to cryptocurrency analysis company Elliptic.

A number of private companies and, increasingly, law enforcement agencies have become adept at tracing cryptocurrency payments through their “blockchains”, the public digital ledgers that record each transaction for tokens such as Bitcoin.

Israeli police said on Tuesday that they had frozen cryptocurrency accounts identified as belonging to Hamas.

A spokesman said: “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.”

Israeli police said they had also worked with their British counterparts to freeze a British bank account at Barclays, which they said was used by Hamas to solicit donations.

Barclays was asked for comment.