Hamas official says he is 'proud' to be designated a global terrorist by the US

'The decision only makes me more confident about my path'

Fathi Hammad has been added to the US list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (AP)

A Hamas official has said he is proud to have been designated a global terrorist by the US and added that the move will only make him more confident.

Fathi Hammad, a former Hamas interior minister, has had his US assets frozen on Friday because he used the position to coordinate terrorist cells, the State Department said.

“The decision only makes me more confident about my path," Hammad told the Washington Post. "The threat of killing or arrest? It doesn’t freak me out, not at all. I am looking forward to it.”

He added: “I feel proud that I managed to anger America.”

Hammad is a member of the political leadership of Hamas, an Islamist group in control of Gaza since 2007. In 2005, Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza, which it had seized along with the West Bank in a 1967 war.

In a statement issued in Gaza, Hammad said the decision to list him as a terrorist came hours after Washington announced $38 billion in military aid to Israel over the next decade, a step that he said made the United States "the biggest supporter of Zionist terrorism."

"Such decisions that are biased in favor of the occupation represent a new black chapter in the record of the ... American administration," he said.

The Obama administration also imposed sanctions on a French citizen considered to be one of the top Syria-based recruiters of potential militants.

Omar Diaby was added to the State Department's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. He was found to have links with the suspect who drove a 19-ton truck into crowds gathered for Bastille Day celebrations in Nice.

Diaby is also known for his French-language jihadi recruitment videos, notably on YouTube, and was among the first to target girls for recruitment.