Hamas smuggles cash for salaries into Gaza

Hamas manages to smuggle millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip, using the money to pay salaries to thousands of workers, a Gaza-based news agency reports, after two months of no payments.

According to the report, over the past few hours, salaries were given to all members of Hamas’s military wing, and in the coming hours the salaries of government officials in the Strip will be paid as well. It is unclear how Hamas managed to transfer the money into the Strip or whether the move was intended to quell unrest in the Palestinian enclave, thus paving the way for a ceasefire. The unpaid salaries of Hamas members were the focus of a major dispute between Fatah and Hamas, and were a significant factor prompting the recent escalation in Gaza.

— Avi Issacharoff