Jerusalem, 22 March, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel confirmed the assassination of a senior Hamas financier in Lebanon on Sunday, the latest in strikes on Hamas and Hezbollah financial infrastructure.
The Israel Defense Forces said it killed Walid Muhammad Dib, a senior Hamas finance official who financed the terrorist organization’s military activities in Lebanon.
“As part of his role, Dib was responsible for transferring funds to the various departments of the Hamas terrorist organization in Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, and other countries. Dib was also responsible for recruiting operatives and directing terrorist activities from Syria and Lebanon,” the IDF said.
The strike follows the assassination of Hamas fundraiser Wassam Mustafa Hussein Ta in the southern Lebanese town of Sidon, which Israel confirmed on Wednesday.
According to the IDF, Ta was involved in raising hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide to fund Hamas, including financing terrorism, building military capabilities, and paying the salaries of operatives.
Three other Hamas fundraisers were killed in a March 6 airstrike, also in Sidon.
Israel has also systematically struck about 30 sites connected to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association (AQHA), a financial network through which Hezbollah deposits and stores funds, manages salary payments, and even makes money transfers from Iran.
In comments to The Press Service of Israel after Israel struck 20 AQHA branches in 2024, a senior figure in the Israeli intelligence community described AQHA as “one of the largest centers of economic power for the Iranian proxy.”
She also suggested that its competition with the Lebanese banking sector contributed to the country’s economic instability, while Hezbollah benefited from a parallel, unregulated financial system.
Established in 1982, AQHA expanded significantly to 34 branches against the backdrop of Lebanon’s economic crisis. It specializes in providing microloans to Lebanon’s Shiite community, which predominantly supports Hezbollah. These loans serve various needs, from wedding expenses to agricultural development and solar energy farms.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned AQHA in 2007.