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The United States and the United Kingdom jointly announced on Wednesday a new set of sanctions imposed on Hamas in response to its attack on Israel on October 7th.

The United States and the United Kingdom announced on Wednesday the imposition of sanctions on Hamas over the October 7 attack on Israel.

The measure "targets key officials who perpetuate Hamas's violent agenda by representing the group's interests abroad and managing its finances," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

"Hamas continues to rely heavily on networks of well-placed officials and affiliates, exploiting seemingly permissive jurisdictions to direct fundraising campaigns for... funneling those illicit proceeds to support its military activities in Gaza," the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said.

The sanctions target over a dozen Hamas officials and facilitators, including Gaza-based Ismail Barhum, whom the agency said acted as a regional finance executive "to aggregate money from global fundraising into official Hamas Finance Ministry accounts."

Also sanctioned were Gaza-based Hamas cofounder Mahmoud Zahar as well as Lebanon-based Ali Baraka, the group's head of external relations, "who has publicly defended the October 7 attacks and sought to justify the taking of hostages," the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

"Hamas can have no future in Gaza," said British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, adding, "Today's sanctions on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will continue to cut off their access to funding and isolate them further."

He emphasized, "We will continue to work with partners to reach a long-term political solution so that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace."

Khalil Wakim, with AFP