BBC report says Hamas using secret cash stockpile, looted aid to pay off employees and loyalists

The BBC reports that Hamas is using a secret method to pay salaries to its tens of thousands of members without the distribution being thwarted by Israel, in a story that also supports Israel’s contention that the terror group has systematically been commandeering humanitarian aid entering the Strip and handing it out to its loyalists while other Gazans starve.

The British broadcaster says it spoke to three Hamas employees who each say they received some NIS 1,000 ($300) within the last week, and that they get around a fifth of their pre-war salaries every 10 weeks.

A senior Hamas official is quoted as saying the terror group stockpiled some $700 million in cash in underground tunnels before launching the October 7, 2023, onslaught, which started the war.

With Israel having previously targeted Hamas salary distributors, the operatives are said to receive encrypted messages on their or their spouses’ phones, inviting them for “tea” at a certain time and place. At the meeting, they are discretely handed over an envelope with cash.

The BBC also reports that Hamas has been taxing traders and selling cigarette packs for up to 100 times their pre-war price to generate revenue.

It cites unnamed Gazan sources as confirming Israel’s longtime claim that significant portions of the humanitarian aid entering Gaza is diverted by the terror group and sold on the black market for inffated prices or handed to loyalists.

Both the terror group and the UN deny systematic looting is taking place.

The report says this has fueled anger at Hamas among residents.

“When the hunger worsened, my children were crying not only from pain but also from watching our Hamas-affiliated neighbors receive food parcels and sacks of flour,” Nisreen Khaled, a single mother in Gaza, is quoted saying. “Are they not the reason for our suffering? Why didn’t they secure food, water and medicine before launching their 7 October adventure?”