Where Does Hamas Get Its $2 Billion Annual Operating Budget?

"A good life is a sign of success and power."

"[And it isn't just the Hamas leadership abroad] I have been once or twice to the Kerem Shalom crossing [with Gaza]. You would not believe the number of Jacuzzis going into the Strip."

Israeli Brig.Gen. Yosef Kuperwasser

 

"Hamas's leadership both inside and outside Gaza steals money from Gazans, who live in bad conditions, to build military infrastructure and for private purposes, including to maintain their expensive lifestyles."

IDF Maj.Gen. Yaakov Amidror

 

"It was the Israeli government's policy to allow Qatar to send funds to the Gaza Strip."

"The thinking was that it would buy quiet. [For Qatar], maintaining ... long-standing ties to terror organizations is part of the country's grand strategy."

"Giving terror groups a safe haven is a form of security for Qatar. It insulate the royal family. In the past, terror groups targeted ruling families in the Gulf countries, but never in Qatar."

"It is very unlikely that Turkey would ever expel Hamas. U.S. pressure might even be counterproductive in this scenario."

Brandon Friedman, senior research fellow, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African studies, Tel Aviv University

Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, center left, walks alongside Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani at a welcome ceremony at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in 2012.  Mohammed Abed / Pool / AFP via Getty Images

 

The top leaders of Hamas; Ismail Haniyeh, Moussa Abu Marzouk and Khaled Mashaal are not going begging for charity, even as hunted, outlawed terrorist leaders, who find haven with sympathetic Qatar and Turkey. Their personal net worth has been estimated at $11 billion. Which does not come as a great surprise to anyone interested in video snippets and photographs that find their way through social media advertising their penchant for living the good life.

 

 Just as Yasser Arafat siphoned off international funding for Palestinian refugees. And the corruption that reigns within the Palestinian Authority with Mahmoud Abbas and other West Bank leaders known to have amassed their own private fortunes. So where does all that lifestyle funding come from? The focus on Hamas alone sees it being recognized as the second richest terror group in the world, with a $2 billion annual budget.

 

Funded itself by the international community, the Palestinian Authority transfers an estimated 33 percent of its total annual budget to Hamas meant in theory to pay salaries of Fatah officials along with goods and services for Gaza residents; staples such as water, electricity and medical treatment. Although

Hamas and Fatah are virulently hostile rivals to one another, by transferring funding  to Hamas the PA extracts a level of influence in Gaza. 

Hundreds of millions are raised by Hamas from taxes it imposes on goods arriving through Egypt's Rafah crossing and Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, along with tariffs on contraband entering Gaza through its vast network of smuggling tunnels; goods from kitchen appliances to luxury vehicles. The Islamic Republic of Iran is good for an estimated $250 million yearly. Tehran also generously supplies Hamas with weapons and training, and its financial contributions to Hamas coffers is increasing.

 

Members of Hamas security march in a military parade at a graduation ceremony in Gaza City last year.  Majdi Fathi / NurPhoto via Getty Images

 

There are endless sources of ongoing funding for the terrorist group, including hundreds of millions from aid groups alongside its own web of 'charitable' organizations. UN agencies spent close to $4.5 billion in Gaza from  2014 to 2020, over 80 percent of which gets channelled through UNRWA for Palestinian refugees, comprising 3/4 of the population of Gaza. Germany has banned charities with Hamas links, such as the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which is active in less alert countries such as Canada, collecting funds in support of Hamas.

It was revealed through an investigation by Focus on Western Islamism which exposes Islamist extremism and finances, that over $260 million was raised for Hamas by charities in the United States that are aligned with the terrorist group. Qatar has transferred tens of millions in cash monthly to Hamas, reaching close to $400 million annually. Members of al-Qaeda, Islamic State and the Taliban have been hosted by Qatar, along with Hamas executives. Qatar's state-run Al Jazeera network spreads Hamas propaganda.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey defends Hamas as a legitimate fighting force against Israeli 'oppression' and 'genocide': "Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, 'mujahedeen' waging a battle to protect its lands and people". Erdogan has provided Hamas leaders with Turkish passports. In early 2023 Israel seized 16 tons of explosive materials originating from Turkey bound for Gaza.

 

Members of the Hamas-led government executive security forces take part in an armed exercise inside their base.  Abid Katib / Getty Images

 

 

In the weeks since the attack, the issue of what domestic and international anti-money laundering (AML), fraud and sanctions teams are doing – and doing differently – to identify terror-tinged or laundered funds tied to Hamas has also been on the minds of top U.S. Treasury agencies and lawmakers.

In rapid succession, over three days – October 18th through Oct. 20th – the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN):

• OFAC acts: Issued a bevy of sanctions against key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators located in Gaza and elsewhere, including Sudan, Turkey, Algeria, and Qatar, according to congressional witnesses.
• Virtual value villain: The action “specifically targeted those managing assets within a secret Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties to the Iranian regime, a key Hamas commander, and a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange and its operator.”
• FinCEN alert: Issued an alert covering refreshed red flag indicators tied to Hamas money movements and terror finance more broadly.
• FinCEN targets crypto mixers: FinCEN also proposed a new regulation to prevent crypto mixers from helping terror groups and their financiers.

The NPRM goes beyond one designated group and seeks to highlight the “risks posed by the extensive use of CVC mixing services by a variety of illicit actors throughout the world.”

If enacted, the new rule would “increase transparency around CVC mixing to combat its use by malicious actors including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” according to FinCEN. 

Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists