The US Department of the Treasury has designated four individuals tied to a Turkish-led humanitarian flotilla campaign, accusing them of operating within Hamas support networks. The move marks yet another expansion of Washington’s sanctions apparatus into the contested space where humanitarian aid and alleged militant financing overlap.
The four activists, Saif Hashim Kamel Abukishek, Hisham Abdallah Sulayman Abu Mahfuz, Mohammed Khatib, and Jaldia Abubakra Aueda, are all associated with the Global Sumud Flotilla. That campaign has sought to deliver aid to Gaza amid Israel’s longstanding naval blockade of the territory.
What the Treasury is alleging
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the flotilla is not simply a humanitarian endeavor. The department claims it is organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, known as PCPA, which Treasury says maintains ties to Hamas’s International Relations Bureau and is connected to Muslim Brotherhood networks.
The PCPA itself was previously sanctioned by the US in January 2026. So from the Treasury’s perspective, these four individuals were operating within an organizational structure that Washington had already flagged.
