EU extends sanctions against Hamas and Islamic Jihad for one year

BRUSSELS Jan. 13 () –

The Member States of the European Union have agreed to extend one year, until January 2026, the sanctions against individuals and entities that facilitate the activity of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In total, the EU maintains sanctions against 12 individuals and 3 entities for their involvement in the terrorist acts of both Palestinian organizations, measures that the bloc implemented to economically suffocate Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad after the October 7 attacks in Israeli soil.

Those sanctioned by the 27 are subject to an asset freeze. It is also prohibited to provide them with funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly. In addition, natural persons included on the list are prohibited from traveling to the EU.

The EU approved a sanctions regime in January 2024 to impose measures against “those who support, materially or financially” both groups as well as against those who collaborate in the “planning, preparation or facilitation of violent actions by Hamas or Islamic Jihad.”

In this way, the European bloc imposed sanctions against Hamas to economically suffocate the group and cut off the supply of weapons, a context in which it also applied restrictions against radical settlers responsible for episodes of violence in the West Bank.