Expert on extremist groups: U.S. sanctions against Mahmoud El-Ibiary reveal the expanding Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas financing network
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figure Mahmoud El-Ibiary, along with three individuals and three entities, under terrorism-related sanctions, accusing them of providing financial and logistical support to Hamas through an international network comprising charitable organizations, commercial companies, and financial entities operating in several countries.
The department said the new measures were coordinated with several U.S. security agencies, foremost among them the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as part of an effort targeting what it described as financing networks linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as individuals and entities that use charitable, commercial, and financial channels to collect and transfer funds.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Mahmoud El-Ibiary serves as the secretary-general of the General Secretariat of the Muslim Brotherhood. Washington accused him of participating in fundraising campaigns on behalf of organizations that had previously been sanctioned by the United States because of their links to Hamas, including the Palestine Waqf Foundation and Hayat Yolo – Way of Life Foundation.
The department added that El-Ibiary had also coordinated with entities linked to the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in fundraising and money-transfer operations, considering these activities part of a broader network aimed at providing sources of financing to entities associated with Hamas.
The U.S. sanctions also targeted entities that the Treasury Department described as fronts for raising funds on behalf of Hamas’s military wing, including Tugah Bulah Global, an Indonesia-based company that, according to the department, also operates under the alias Seven Spikes Global.
Washington accused the company of raising funds and generating revenue for Hamas’s military wing as part of a network that, according to U.S. authorities, relies on commercial and charitable entities to conceal financial trails and transfer funds across borders.
The sanctions also targeted Maad Palestine Charity in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. Treasury Department said the organization was initially established under the guise of raising funds to assist civilians, before being used by Hamas, according to U.S. allegations, to provide financing for military purposes.
The measures also extended to a currency-exchange and financial-services network operating in Turkey, which the United States accused of transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hamas. The move reflects Washington’s growing focus on financial intermediaries and transfer networks that U.S. authorities say are used to move funds outside traditional financial channels.
The sanctions form part of a U.S. policy aimed at cutting off the sources of funding that Washington says support Hamas, with a focus on the financial infrastructure surrounding the organization rather than solely on its known political or military leaders.
The U.S. Treasury Department considers the use of charitable organizations, commercial companies, and currency-exchange networks as channels for moving funds to be one of the methods that can be used to conceal the ultimate beneficiary of financing. This has prompted U.S. authorities to broaden the scope of sanctions to include multiple links within the financing network.
The department said that, according to its assessment, the Muslim Brotherhood continues to obstruct efforts aimed at reaching a peaceful resolution in the Gaza Strip, linking the organization’s activities to the financing networks targeted by the U.S. measures.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump’s administration would pursue terrorists and their financiers, whether they operate under the cover of charitable organizations, businesses, or clandestine financial networks. He stressed that individuals and entities supporting Hamas would face sanctions and accountability.
The new sanctions carry broad financial and legal consequences for the designated individuals and entities. They result in the blocking of their assets and interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction and impose restrictions on transactions involving them by U.S. persons and institutions, in accordance with the rules governing U.S. sanctions.
The designation of Mahmoud El-Ibiary comes as Washington works to expand its targeting of Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas financing networks by combining financial sanctions, security measures, and efforts to track cross-border financing channels.
The nature of the latest measures indicates that the U.S. strategy is moving toward targeting the financing ecosystem at its various stages, beginning with fundraising, then extending through charities, companies, and financial intermediaries, and ultimately reaching the entities that Washington accuses of receiving these funds.
The new decision therefore represents an escalation in the pursuit of networks that the United States considers linked to Hamas financing. It also places the activities of institutions and entities associated with the Muslim Brotherhood under greater U.S. financial and security scrutiny, as Washington moves to cut off funding sources and pursue channels that could be used to recycle or transfer money across borders.
Ibrahim Rabie, a researcher specializing in extremist groups, said that the designation of Muslim Brotherhood figure Mahmoud El-Ibiary under U.S. sanctions represents a significant development in the way Washington is addressing financing networks linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. He noted that the decision does not target an individual in isolation, but rather reveals U.S. efforts to trace transnational financial and organizational networks.
Rabie said that the sanctions reveal, according to U.S. allegations, that networks associated with the organization rely on a range of charitable, commercial, and financial fronts to raise and transfer funds. He stressed that targeting these links represents a direct blow to the infrastructure on which such networks depend to move money and conceal its financial trails.
He added that designating El-Ibiary alongside entities operating in different countries reflects a U.S. effort to connect organizational and political activity with financing channels rather than treating each case separately, particularly when dealing with networks that span multiple countries and use various mechanisms to maintain the flow of funds.
The researcher specializing in extremist groups pointed out that targeting organizations Washington describes as fundraising fronts, along with companies and currency-exchange networks, confirms that U.S. sanctions are increasingly focused on financial infrastructure rather than solely on prominent leaders.
Rabie stressed that the danger posed by this type of network lies in its ability to operate across multiple jurisdictions while taking advantage of charitable and commercial activities as well as financial transfers. Dismantling such networks therefore depends on tracing the relationships among individuals, entities, sources of funding, and ultimate beneficiaries.
He also noted that the decision sends a message to institutions and parties that may engage with these networks: Washington is moving to broaden the scope of financial enforcement, and sanctions will not stop at leaders or major entities but may also extend to intermediaries and channels that contribute to the movement of funds.
Rabie emphasized that placing El-Ibiary under U.S. sanctions represents an important development in efforts to pursue Muslim Brotherhood leaders based outside Egypt, particularly as Washington increasingly focuses on the nature of the financial and organizational relationships linking some of these leaders to regional and international networks.
He considered the new measures to reflect a shift from monitoring activities toward an attempt to cut off funding sources by targeting the intermediary links that enable funds to be collected, transferred, and redirected. He stressed that maintaining this approach could place greater pressure on the financial and organizational networks associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in the period ahead.
