LONDON : Israel has frozen cryptocurrency accounts used to solicit donations for the Palestinian militant group Hamas on social media, police said on Tuesday.
"According to suspicions, with the outbreak of the war, Hamas' terrorist organisation initiated a fundraising campaign on social networks, urging the public to deposit cryptocurrencies into their accounts," a police statement said. The statement did not give further details of how many accounts were frozen, nor the value of crypto seized."Over the past few days our team has been working in real time, around the clock, to support ongoing efforts to combat terror financing," a Binance spokesperson said, adding that the exchange"actively partners" with global law enforcement agencies and regulators.
Hamas had endorsed crypto as a fundraising method for years, but said in April it would stop receiving fundraising via the cryptocurrency bitcoin, citing an increase in"hostile" activity against donors.