E-Paper
Hamas getting $12 million a month in donations, Israel claims: 'Financial jihad’
Israel-Hamas War: Israeli financial-intelligence officials said that US also believes that Hamas receives significant funding from online-donation sites.
Israeli officials claimed that Hamas is getting $8 million to $12 million a month through online donations through organizations posing as charities to help civilians in Gaza. This implies that there is a multi-fold increase for online funding for the group compared to what it was receiving before its attack on Israel on October 7. Israeli financial-intelligence officials told Bloomberg that US also believes that Hamas receives significant funding from online-donation sites.
But tracking Hamas' fund raising is difficult because the organization has years of experience of getting around sanctions. Matthew Levitt, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said, “There is no question that there is a sharp increase in legitimate and illegitimate charitable giving to Palestinians in wake of the Gaza hostilities."
Read more: Houthis tell US, UK nationals to leave Yemen in 30 days
He added, “An uptick in the interest to donate gives increased cover for Hamas. I’ve seen charities that were previously designated by the US popping up, some under new names, but there are also lots of new ones.”
Earlier, Hamas officials have also publicly called for cash gifts for their fight against Israel as Ismail Haniyeh said, “This is not just a humanitarian issue, despite its immense importance and Gaza’s need for any aid it can get. This is financial jihad.”
Before the war, donations were made to charities after which money reached Hamas in different ways, including aid convoys, Israeli officials said. Hamas also uses Trade-Based Terror Funding- donations by asking local Gazan business owners to transfer money to Hamas. However, it is challenging to determine whether a charity is legitimate or assisting Hamas, they said.
Hamas is also raising money through organizations in other countries and which aren’t clearly linked to the group, Israeli and US officials said as per the report.
This comes as Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after it swarmed southern Israel from Gaza, killing around 1,200 people. More than 25,000 people have been killed since Israel retaliated by attacking Gaza.
