The United States is hitting al-Qassam Brigades the armed wing of Hamas Movement commander Ahmad al-Ghandour with terrorism sanctions.
The State Department said it is designating Abu Anas al-Ghandour as a global terrorist. The designation freezes any assets in the U.S. and bars Americans from doing business with him.
Ghandour leads al-Qassam brigades in northern Gaza and spent years in Israeli and Palestinian Authority prisons decades ago. Israeli authorities accused him of the involvement in an attack on an Israeli military outpost on the Israel-Gaza border that killed two Israeli soldiers.
The attack led to the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The soldier was released in a 2011 prisoner swap.
He was subjected to two assassination attempts in 2002 and 2012. Ghandour is the fifth resistance official whose name is listed in the U.S. terrorism list after al-Qassam leaders: Mohammad al-Deif Yahya al-Sinwar Rouhi Mushtaha and the Hamas leader Fathi Hammad.
