The European Union has agreed to put the political wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas on its blacklist of outlawed terrorist organisations, EU diplomats said.
Details of the decision, which requires member states to freeze the assets of an organisation and opens the way to prosecute its members on terrorism charges, will be announced tomorrow, the diplomats said.
The decision by the EU's council of ambassadors comes in a week when Palestinian suicide bombers have killed 15 people in Israel, and the Israelis have tried unsuccessfully to kill top Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip in air strikes.