France calls for EU sanctions against Hamas officials

MADRID (AFP): France wants the European Union to impose sanctions against top Hamas leaders following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attacks on Israel, a senior French official said Wednesday.

France “is pushing for sanctions at the European level against senior Hamas figures, individually, because for the moment … the European Union only condemns the organisation as a whole,” Laurence Boone, secretary of state for European affairs, told AFP on the sidelines of an international meeting in Madrid.

The idea would be to “specifically target certain individuals” with “mainly financial” sanctions such as an asset freeze, she added without specifying who should be targeted.

France also wants EU sanctions slapped on people linked to Hamas and its ally, Lebanon’s pro-Iran Hezbollah, like the sanctions the bloc has imposed on some Iranians over their role in the war in Ukraine.

The EU in February imposed sanctions on seven Iranian firms which make drones used by Russia to strike targets in Ukraine.

France’s proposal could be adopted by EU foreign ministers in December, Boone said. It has the backing of Germany and Italy, according to her entourage.

The United States in October imposed sanctions against 10 “key” members of Hamas based in Gaza, Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and Qatar who are involved in financing the group’s activities.

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip following the October 7 attack by Hamas that Israel says killed 1,200 people. The group took 239 hostages.

Gaza’s Hamas-run government says more than 14,100 people have been killed in Israel’s aerial and ground offensive since — two thirds of them women and children.