October 05, 2026

2M to Hamas through "charity" and crypto. Zero crypto addresses on the sanctions list

On October 2, OFAC sanctioned a network that has raised more than $2M for Hamas since 2020 — about $1.5M of it after October 7, 2023. The scheme: "humanitarian aid for Gaza" fundraisers on social media and through two French "charities", Association Baraka and Ensemble C Mieux. The money was pooled in a French bank account, converted to crypto and sent to wallets controlled by Saleem al-Zaq, a battalion deputy in Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades.

WHAT WE CHECKED OURSELVES

We opened OFAC's own sanctions file. All five — three people and both organizations — are listed. Crypto addresses in their entries: zero.

According to Chainalysis, one of al-Zaq's addresses is a deposit address at a major exchange. So the money didn't go to a "suspicious wallet" — it went to an ordinary exchange top-up address.

WHAT IT MEANS

A list-only check won't see these payments: the address isn't on any list, and an exchange deposit address looks clean. Networks like this are found through connections. Chainalysis traced this one via a mutual counterparty: the same wallet funded al-Zaq's address and exchange deposits that received money from addresses named in Israeli seizure orders against Hamas.

FOR YOU

• Crypto "humanitarian" fundraisers on social media are one of the main terrorist-financing channels. Sending money there can cost you more than the money.
• If you get paid on P2P from an address that shares counterparties with sanctioned ones, an exchange may freeze the funds even if the address itself is "clean".
• Look beyond the address itself — check its counterparties too.

🔎 Check an address and its connections: https://amlconsensus.com/en