RAMALLAH, West Bank ? A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the Islamic militant group already is looking for new sources of funding after the international community threatened to cut off aid, warning that Hamas will not be “blackmailed.”

Osama Hamdan, a member of the group’s exiled leadership, spoke a day after international donors said millions of dollars in aid could be in jeopardy if Hamas does not change its violent ways.

Hamas will likely find it difficult to persuade Muslim nations to make up a shortfall from a Western aid cut, and the threat of no money remains the international community’s best weapon to get Hamas to moderate its ideology.

“We are looking for alternative sources and we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” Hamdan said in a telephone interview.

Hamas officials said Tuesday the group already is in touch with potential donors in Arab and Muslim nations. The officials declined to be identified.