Despite almost two years of war against Israel, Hamas has managed to maintain a clandestine payment system based on species to continue to pay wages to its members, reveals a report of the BBC Posted Wednesday.
According to the survey, the terrorist organization has distributed about $ 7 million to around 30,000 of its members since the conflict starts. Three inhabitants of Gaza interviewed by the BBC confirmed that they had each received nearly $ 300 last week, as part of a remuneration system which extends to tens of thousands of agents.
These payments represent just over 20% of the pre-war salary, paid every ten weeks approximately. The distribution process is a sophisticated logistics: the beneficiaries receive encrypted messages on their phones or those of their spouses, directing them to a specific place at a given hour to “meet a friend for tea”.
At the meeting point, a man or sometimes a woman discreetly approaches the employee, gives him a closed envelope containing the money, then disappears without any other interaction.
This revelation contrasts with the information reported last April by i24NEWSwhich reported serious financial difficulties within Hamas. The terrorist organization then struggled to pay its activists, causing dozens, even hundreds of resignations among them. To compensate for these departures, the Hamas military branch had to take control of the dysfunctional civilian offices.
This payment system testifies to the capacity to adapt Hamas in the face of economic and military pressures, while raising issues about the organization’s funding sources in a besieged territory.
