While Hamas is already designated as a terrorist organisation by the EU, the new decision means that Sinwar’s assets in EU member states will be frozen.
The decision also means that no economic resources can be made available to him from EU states, according to reports.
“The decision comes as part of the European Union’s response to the threat posed by Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023,” an official statement from the Council of the European Union said.
In December, the Council added Hamas military leaders Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa to the list.
Sinwar served 22 years in prison until he was released along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier in 2011.
Taher al-Nono, media adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, has called for an end to the EU’s “double-standard policy”.
“These are ridiculous and silly sanctions because everyone knows that Yahya Sinwar has no assets or money neither in Palestine nor outside it,” he told Reuters.
“Such a decision has no value against Hamas, but the idea of imposing sanctions on the leaders of the resistance and Hamas, which is resisting the [Israeli] occupation as granted by international law, shows bias to the occupation.”
It comes days after unnamed US officials stated that the CIA is helping Israel gather intelligence on top Hamas officials, for targeting purposes.
Killing or capturing the central Hamas figures believed to be responsible for the October 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped another 240 back to Gaza would be a major public relations victory for the beleaguered Benjamin Netanyahu government.
US officials believe at least one of them – the group’s leader in Gaza, Sinwar – is holed up in a tunnel system deep under the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The other, military commander Deif, has avoided capture by Israel’s security services for decades.
