According to a report by Reuters, the Palestinian militant group Hamas uses a global financing network to channel support from charitable institutions and friendly nations, moving cash through the tunnels of Gaza or using cryptocurrencies to circumvent international sanctions, experts and authorities say.
However, the group that governs the Gaza Strip – considered a terrorist organization by several countries – will face even more obstacles in accessing funds after the violence perpetrated by its members, which killed hundreds of Israelis and people of other nationalities just over a week ago.
The Israeli police said they froze a Barclays bank account that authorities claimed was linked to Hamas’s fundraising efforts and blocked cryptocurrency accounts used to collect donations, without specifying how many accounts or the value of the assets.
This measure gives an idea of the complex financial web, some legitimate and others hidden, that supports Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, and its government in the Gaza Strip since 2007.
According to Reuters, Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. official specializing in counterterrorism, estimated that most of Hamas’s budget, over $300 million, came from taxes on businesses, as well as from countries like Iran and Qatar or from charitable institutions.
Last February, the State Department said that Hamas raised funds in other Gulf countries and received donations from Palestinians, other expatriates, and its own charitable institutions.
Hamas, sanctioned as a terrorist organization by the United States and other Western countries, such as Great Britain, has increasingly used cryptocurrencies, credit cards, or fictitious business agreements to avoid growing international restrictions, Levitt told the news agency.
Blockchain researchers at TRM Labs said that after fighting in May 2021, cryptocurrency addresses controlled by Hamas received over $400,000. However, since last week’s attack, prominent support groups linked to Hamas have moved only a few thousand dollars through cryptocurrency, TRM noted.
“A likely reason for the low volume of donations is that Israeli authorities are immediately targeting them,” TRM said, adding that Israel has seized cryptocurrencies worth “tens of millions of dollars” from addresses linked to Hamas in recent years.
Between December 2021 and April of this year, Israel seized nearly 190 cryptocurrency accounts that it claimed were linked to Hamas.
Whether through cryptocurrency or other means, Hamas’s allies have found ways to transport money to Gaza. The U.S. State Department stated that Iran provides up to $100 million annually in support of Palestinian groups, including Hamas, citing methods of moving money through shell companies, maritime transactions, and precious metals.
Gas-rich Qatar has also paid hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza since 2014, spending up to $30 million a month to help operate the enclave’s only power plant and to support needy families and public officials of the Hamas-led government.
Qatar’s aid to Gaza actually passes through Israel, explained a source familiar with the process.
Funds are electronically transferred from Qatar to Israel. Israeli and UN officials transport cash by hand across the border into Gaza.
The money is distributed directly to needy families and public officials in Gaza, and each family or individual must sign next to their name that they received the money. A copy of this sheet goes to Israel, one goes to the UN, and another goes to Qatar.
Source: Reuters