Japan has announced sanctions against three senior members of the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Tokyo will freeze assets belonging to the three individuals and impose sanctions on payments and capital transactions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa said on Tuesday.

The sanctioned individuals, who were not named, are believed to have been involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel and be in a position to use funds to carry out similar attacks in future, Yoshimasa said.

The move comes after Tokyo in October imposed sanctions on nine people and a company over their alleged links to Hamas.

Tokyo has attempted to walk a fine line on the war in Gaza war, striving to balance relations with the United States, its closest ally, and its ties to energy-supplying partners in the Middle East.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio condemned the October 7 attacks on Israel and called for the immediate release of Hamas’s captives while expressing concern about civilian deaths and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Japan earlier this month supported a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, after abstaining from a similar vote in October.

Last week, Japanese container shipper Ocean Network Express announced it would reroute vessels away from the Red Sea to avoid being targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have ramped up attacks on commercial shipping since the start of the war in Gaza.

In November, the Houthis seized a British-owned vessel chartered by Tokyo-based Nippon Yusen, prompting the shipping line to stop accepting cargo bound for Israel.

Source Al Jazeera

BDST: 2110 HRS, DEC 26, 2023
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