France has blocked for six months the assets of Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the October 7 attack on Israel, according to a decree published Tuesday in the official French newspaper.
“Funds and economic resources owned or controlled by Yahya Sinwar (…) are subject to an asset freeze measure,” stated the November 30 decree, which came into force on Tuesday.
The French Ministry of Finance has not yet specified the amount of these blocked assets.
Yahya Sinwar, 61, is believed to be the mastermind of the October 7 attack in Israel, which left more than 1,200 people dead and 240 kidnapped.
In November, France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Laurence Boone called for European sanctions against senior Hamas officials, mainly financiers, which could take the form of asset freezes.
In a similar decree on November 13, Paris announced it would freeze for six months the assets of Mohamed Deif, who heads the military branch of Hamas and has been on the US list of most wanted “international terrorists” since 2015.
London also imposed sanctions – an asset freeze, an arms embargo, travel bans – against six people: four Hamas leaders and two people accused of financing the organization, including Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar.
Bombings and fighting carried out by Israel since October 7 have killed nearly 16,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.