Ottawa, Canada– Canada on Tuesday announced sanctions against leaders of Hamas and its affiliates who Ottawa says were behind the group’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The move comes two weeks after Britain and the United States unveiled new coordinated asset freezes and travel bans on the fighters.
The 11 individuals targeted by the Canadian measures — which prohibit all dealings with them in a bid to choke off funding for the group — include Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and its military chief Mohammed Deif, as well as Akram al-Ajouri of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
They were said in a statement to be “integral to the planning, funding and execution of the October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel.”
“Canada unequivocally condemns Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel, its unacceptable treatment of hostages and its heinous use of sexual and gender-based violence as a tactic of war,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.
Hamas itself, along with several linked groups, is already listed by Ottawa as a banned terrorist organization.
The shock cross-border attack by Hamas fighters from Gaza killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s withering military campaign in response has killed at least 27,585 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry there.
