On June 21, Israel’s military reported the killing of two financial operatives, Hussein Qadra and Mohammed Farra, linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They were instrumental in transferring over $140 million to Hamas.
The IDF indicated these operatives facilitated funding for Hamas’s military operations in Gaza. Previous Israeli strikes targeted Khader Jamasi and Muhammad Harazin, who were involved in moving funds through traditional systems.
Interestingly, these recent eliminations did not involve cryptocurrency, raising questions about Hamas's funding strategies. Reports between 2021 and 2023 documented Hamas’s use of digital currencies for fundraising, but the absence of cryptocurrency in these operations suggests a shift back to traditional money transfer methods.
Regulatory scrutiny and blockchain analysis may have made crypto financing riskier for militant organizations. Tools developed by firms like Chainalysis enhance law enforcement's ability to trace illicit crypto transactions.
The preference for established informal systems like hawala, which avoids blockchain’s transparency, could explain this operational change.
The Financial Action Task Force’s efforts to regulate illicit crypto use might be effective; if even Hamas finds crypto too risky, it challenges the notion that digital assets are indispensable for illicit financing. Blockchain forensics firms continue to see governmental demand for their services, irrespective of the current financing methods employed by militants.