The United States and Britain on Wednesday imposed an additional round of sanctions on people in Turkey and elsewhere who are linked to the Palestinian Hamas militant group, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

Hamas armed wing holds military parade in Gaza

The sanctions target eight officials who advance Hamas’ agenda and interests abroad and help manage its finances, the Treasury said in a statement.

"Hamas continues to rely heavily on networks of well-placed officials and affiliates, exploiting seemingly permissive jurisdictions to direct fundraising campaigns for the group’s benefit and funneling those illicit proceeds to support its military activities in Gaza," said Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

Several of the Hamas officials targeted were based in Turkey, including one of the group's key financial operatives there, Haroun Mansour Yaqoub Nasser Al-Din, Treasury said.

Haroun Nasser Al-Din has been involved in a network that transferred money from Turkey and Gaza to the Hamas command center in the West Bank city of Hebron, it said, and helped subsidize Hamas activities to further unrest in the West Bank.

Nelson traveled to Oman and Turkey at the end of November to work on U.S. efforts to deny Hamas and other groups the ability to raise and move funds.

It was the fourth round of U.S. sanctions on the Palestinian militant group following its deadly incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, which Israel says killed 1,200 people. Israel's subsequent military retaliation has killed 18,000 people in Gaza, local health officials say.

In coordinated actions on Wednesday, Britain's foreign office said it sanctioned seven additional people linked to Hamas, including Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas’ co-founder, and Ali Baraka, Hamas’ head of external relations who was also sanctioned by the United States.

The UK sanctions also target a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and figures in the financial network that backs Hamas, including individuals in Lebanon and Algeria.

"Hamas can have no future in Gaza. Today’s sanctions on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will continue to cut off their access to funding and isolate them further," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said.

It was Britain's second round of sanctions against Hamas since the Oct. 7 attacks.

The sanctions actions block all property and interests in property of the designated persons in the United States and Britain, as well as transactions involving the individuals targeted.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the sanctions were unjustified and Hamas later said they were based on false allegations.

"We call on the American administration and the British government once again to review their aggressive policies towards our Palestinian people," Hamas said in a statement.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen welcomed the latest sanctions and called on other countries to follow suit, "as only a persistent uncompromising struggle will lead to the collapse of the Hamas government."

Others cited by the United States include Ismail Musa Ahmad Barhum, who helped to collect money from global fundraising into Hamas finance ministry accounts, the Treasury Department said, and Jihad Muhammad Shaker Yaghmour, Hamas' official representative to Turkey.

The sanctions targeted Mehmet Kaya, also based in Turkey, over his involvement in multiple money transfers on behalf of Hamas, "ultimately providing tens of millions of dollars of financial services for Hamas," it said.

Houthi ballistic missile fired at container ship near Bab el Mandeb strait

The U.S. military accused the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen of having fired a ballistic missile at a container ship in the Red Sea Thursday in the latest provocation that is raising tensions in the region.

"Midday Dec. 14 (Sanaa time), a ballistic missile was fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen toward the international shipping lane north of the Bab-el-Mandeb,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The Bab-el-Mandeb strait is the narrow body of water separating Yemen from the northeast coast of Africa that leads into the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

"There were no injuries or damage," the statement continued. "Following the missile launch, the [container ship] M/V Maersk Gibraltar was hailed by the Houthis, who threatened further missile attacks."

Houthi officials had earlier claimed that one of their drones had struck the ship that CENTCOM identified as a Hong Kong-flagged vessel.

The incident is the latest escalation from Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, who have launched missiles and drones targeting ships sailing in the region and have seized a merchant vessel in a show of support for Hamas in the war with Israel.

Thursday’s incident was the third time since Sunday that the Houthis have fired missiles at commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea, raising concerns about the security of commercial shipping in the vital waterway.

There was no U.S. Navy response to Thursday’s incident involving the Maersk Gibraltar.

On Tuesday, the American destroyer USS Mason assisted a Norwegian chemical tanker in the southern Red Sea and shot down a Houthi drone that was headed in its direction.

In recent weeks, U.S. Navy ships have shot down Houthi missiles and drones that have either been aimed at Israel or commercial vessels or have flown in the direction of American warships.

The United States is in discussions with partner nations to establish a multinational naval task force to provide security for commercial shipping near Yemen.

On Thursday, the Pentagon’s top spokesman described that effort as building on the existing Task Force 153, comprised of 39 nations focusing on international maritime security and capacity-building efforts in the Red Sea, Bab el Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden.

"We're working through that process right now, in terms of which countries will be participating in Task Force 153 and, specifically, what capabilities and types of support they will provide," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.

"We'll have more information on that in the near future," Ryder said.