
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Gaza Flotilla Organizers, Hamas-Linked Muslim Brotherhood Network
The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a network of individuals tied to the recent pro-Hamas flotilla that attempted to reach Gaza, along with operatives linked to Hamas-aligned Muslim Brotherhood networks, in what officials described as the latest step in a sustained campaign to dismantle the terrorist group’s overseas financial and political infrastructure.
The action, announced by the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, targets four individuals associated with the flotilla and the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, as well as additional figures connected to Hamas and HASM, an armed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood offshoot. The flotilla was organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, or PCPA, which the Treasury says operates as a clandestine front for Hamas.
“The pro-terror flotilla attempting to reach Gaza is a ludicrous attempt to undermine President Trump’s successful progress toward lasting peace in the region,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue to sever Hamas’s global financial support networks, no matter where in the world they are.”
The PCPA was previously designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization on Jan. 21, when OFAC also sanctioned six Gaza-based nonprofits it accused of funneling money to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. Treasury said at the time that the conference had been “established with funding from Hamas’s International Relations Bureau” and that the group “directs its activity through the placement of Hamas officials throughout the organization, including its executive body, the General Secretariat.”
Among those designated Tuesday is Saif Hashim Kamel Abukishek, a Jordan-based member of the PCPA’s General Secretariat who Treasury said served on the steering committee of the flotilla recently intercepted en route to Gaza. Hisham Abdallah Sulayman Abu Mahfuz, the Spain-based acting Secretary General and President of the PCPA, was also designated. The two join Zaher Birawi, the UK-based PCPA founder identified in Hamas documents recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza as the head of the organization’s Hamas sector in Britain, who was sanctioned in January.
Samidoun was designated by the United States and Canada in October 2024 as a fundraising front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
The newly sanctioned individuals span Gaza, Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Jordan and Iran, according to OFAC’s update to its Specially Designated Nationals list, and now face secondary sanctions risk. All U.S.-jurisdiction assets belonging to the targets are frozen, and U.S. persons are barred from transacting with them.
The flotilla referenced in Tuesday’s action, intercepted this week by Israeli forces, was the latest in a series of maritime convoys organized under the banner of breaking Israel’s security cordon around Gaza. The Global Sumud Flotilla, which set off last year, drew similar sanctions activity. Israeli authorities have said no humanitarian aid was found aboard the most recent vessels.
A 22-page report published in September by independent researchers, “Global Sumud Flotilla: A Humanitarian Cover With Documented Links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood,” documented overlapping personnel between the flotilla’s leadership and Hamas’s overseas political apparatus, including photographic and social media evidence. Wael Nawar, a former flotilla spokesman, was photographed in February 2025 at the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and has held documented meetings with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the PFLP, according to the report.
In its statement Tuesday, Treasury reiterated that legitimate humanitarian assistance to Gaza should be routed through approved international channels and warned banks that flotillas organized by designated parties present significant compliance risks. “Hamas relies on a diverse web of international partners to expand its malign political influence, facilitate violent terrorist activity and undermine international efforts to achieve lasting peace in Gaza,” the department said.
The PCPA dismissed the January designations as politically motivated and, through Birawi, denied any operational link to Hamas. Hamas itself condemned the earlier sanctions in a Jan. 22 statement, calling them “unjust and oppressive” and accusing the United States of acting on Israeli “incitement.”
The new designations also widen the Trump administration’s targeting of Muslim Brotherhood-linked networks, a category of enforcement that has expanded steadily since Trump returned to office. To date, Treasury has targeted nearly 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism financing by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and other aligned groups, the department has said.
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