BRUSSELS — The Council of the European Union on Tuesday added Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip, to the EU’s terrorist list for his involvement in the October 7 attacks by the Palestinian militant group that killed around 1,200 Israelis.
Sinwar, presented as the “political leader of Hamas,” is now “subject to the freezing of his funds and other financial assets in EU member states,” the Council said in a press release.
The EU has come under mounting pressure from Israel and the United States to impose fresh sanctions on Hamas, which the bloc already lists as a terrorist organization.
In December, the Council of the EU had already sanctioned two Hamas military commanders.
Sinwar has been a member of Hamas since the group’s creation in 1987, and is a key figure of the organization.
Nicknamed “the butcher of Khan Younis” for his ruthlessness and in reference to the Palestinian refugee camp where he was born in 1962, Sinwar has been the head of Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza since 2017.
He has been under U.S. sanctions since 2015.
