Hamas is still paying wages and rewards of fans

After almost two years of the war, Hamas’s military abilities are weakened and its political leadership under intensive pressure.

However, during the war, Hamas managed to continue using a secret payment system based on cash to pay salaries of 30,000 civil servants worth $ 7 million (£ 5.3 million).

The BBC talked to three civil servants who confirmed that they had received nearly $ 300 over the last week.

It is believed that they are in tens of thousands of employees who continue to receive a maximum of just over 20% of their pre -war salary every 10 weeks.

Against the background of inflation growth, salary with tokens – part of the full amount – causes an increase in grievance among the party believers.

The harsh food deficit – which aid agencies are blamed for Israeli’s restrictions – and increased cases of acute malnutrition continue in gas, where a kilo of flour has cost as much as $ 80 in recent weeks.

Not having a functional banking system in gas, even getting a salary is difficult and sometimes dangerous. Israel regularly identifies and aims at Hamas’s salaries distributors, seeking to disrupt the group’s ability.

Officers, from police officers to tax officials, often receive an encrypted message on their own phones or spouses who instructed them to go to a certain place at a certain time to “meet a friend for tea”.

At the time of the meeting, the man appeals to the employee – or sometimes a woman – who is restrained by the sealed envelope that contains money before disappearing without further interaction.

Hamas’s employee of the Religious Affairs Ministry, who does not want to name his name in security opinions, described the danger involved in the collection of his salary.

“Whenever I go to pick up the salary, I say goodbye to my wife and children. I know I can’t come back,” he said. “Several times Israeli strikes have reached the salaries distribution points. I survived the one that is aimed at the busy market in Gaza.”

Alao, whose name we changed to protect his personality is a teacher who is occupied by the Hamas government and the only supplier for a family of six years.

“I received 1000 Shekel (about $ 300) in the worn banknotes – no trader would accept them. Only 200 gray were useful – the rest, I honestly do not know what to do,” he said BBC.

“After two and a half months of hunger, they pay us by torn cash.

“I am often forced to seek the distribution points in the hope of forcing flour to feed my children. Sometimes I manage to bring home a little, but most of the time I failed.”

In March, the Israeli military stated that they killed the head of Finance, Hamas Ismail Barhum, as a result of a strike on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Unis. They accused him of sending funds to Hamas’s military wing.

It remains unclear how Hamas managed to continue financing payments for earnings, given the destruction of most administrative and financial infrastructure.

One senior Hamas employee who held high positions and familiar with Hamas’s financial transactions, the BBC had secured approximately $ 700 million in cash and hundreds of millions of Shekels in the Underground Tunnels to the death attack on October 7, 2023 in South Israel.

They were allegedly controlled by the leader of Hamas Yahi Sinwar and his brother Mohammed – both have been killed by Israeli forces since then.

Hamas has historically relied on the financing of large import duties and taxes imposed on the population of Gaza, as well as receiving millions of dollars from Qatar.

Brigades Kosamas, the military wing of Hamas, which works through a separate financial system, is mainly Iran.

A high official from the Egyptian Brotherhood, one of the most influential Islamist organizations in the world, said about 10% of their budget was also aimed at Hamas.

In order to make a profit during the war, Hamas also continues to charge traders’ taxes and sold a large number of cigarettes at inflated prices up to 100 times their original cost. Before the war, a box of 20 cigarettes cost $ 5 – which has now grown to more than $ 170.

In addition to cash payments, Hamas distributed food parcels to its members and their families through local emergency committees, the leadership of which often turns from repeated Israeli strikes.

This caused public anger, and many residents of Gaza accused Hamas of distributing assistance only to their fans and excluded the wide population.

Israel accused Hamas of stealing the assistance that has entered the gas during the ceasefire that Hamas denied. However, the BBC sources said that during this time, Hamas had been received by a considerable amount of assistance.

Nisrin Khaled, the widow left to care for three children after her husband died five years ago, said the BBC: “When the hunger has deteriorated, my children were crying not only from pain, but also watched as our neighbors in Hamas received food and flour bags.

“Is they not the cause of our suffering? Why did they not secure food, water and medicine before launching their 7 -October adventures?”