Argentina designates Hamas 'a terrorist organisation'
Argentina has designated the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas a “terrorist organisation” and ordered a freeze on all of the group’s financial assets, in a largely symbolic move by the country’s far-right President Javier Milei, as he seeks to align more closely to the US and Israel.
Announcing the decision, Milei’s office cited the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 250 people taken captive. “Argentina must once again align itself with Western civilization,” Milei’s office said.
On his first state visit as president in February, Milei flew to Jerusalem in a show of support for the Israeli government and promised to move his nation’s embassy to the contested capital – drawing praise from Netanyahu and criticism from Palestinians.
Although raised a Roman Catholic, Milei says he has a deep spiritual connection with Judaism. He is a staunch supporter of Israel, and compared the October 7 attacks to the Holocaust, describing them as “21st-century Nazism."
At least 38,345 Palestinians have been killed and 88,295 wounded in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 7. However, as per a recent study by the Lancet journal, the actual death toll might be higher, including thousands buried under rubble and deaths indirectly caused by destroyed health facilities and food systems. It suggests the toll could exceed 186,000 deaths.
