New Zealand Designates Hamas as a Terrorist Group, Imposes Sanctions on Israeli Settlers

JAKARTA - The New Zealand government has designated the Palestinian militant group Hamas as a terrorist entity, and imposed a travel ban on Israeli settlers who carry out attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said in a statement that Hamas' attacks on Israel in October "were extremely brutal and we firmly condemn them," as reported by Reuters, February 29.

But he added, "New Zealand wants to make it clear that the designation of Hamas is the act of an offshore terrorist entity and is not a reflection on the Palestinian people in Gaza and around the world."

Long before that, New Zealand had designated the military wing of the Hamas group as a terrorist entity in 2010.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Hamas was ultimately responsible for the October attack, making it difficult for the New Zealand government to differentiate between the group's military and political wings.

The October 7 attack killed 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally. Since then, Israeli air and ground attacks on Hamas-controlled Gaza have killed around 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

New Zealand's move to designate Hamas as a terrorist group makes property or financial transactions with Hamas or providing material support a criminal offence. They also froze all Hamas assets in New Zealand.

On the other hand, this does not prevent New Zealand from providing future humanitarian and development assistance to civilians in Gaza, or providing consular support to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents in conflict zones.

PM Luxon also said he was "deeply concerned by the significant increase in extremist violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers" against Palestinians in recent months.

"This is very detrimental to stability which has already become a major crisis," said PM Luxon.

It is known that Kiwi Country consistently states that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are a violation of international law.

The New Zealand government said it would continue to support a future Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution, urging an end to the current conflict and an immediate restart of the Middle East peace process.