Hamas paying salaries with secret $700M cash stash, stolen aid

A Gaza widow said her children cry while watching her Hamas-affiliated neighbors eat, as civilians unaffiliated with the terror group are denied access to humanitarian aid.

By World Israel News Staff

Hamas is reportedly using a secret stockpile of cash and profits from the resale of stolen humanitarian aid to continue paying salaries to its employees, including senior members of the terror group.

According to the BBC, three Hamas employees confirmed they had received payments of 1,000 shekels (about $300) within the past week.

They said they are still being paid a portion of their pre-war salaries, despite the widespread humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

A senior Hamas source told the BBC that the group had stashed away an estimated $700 million in cash prior to the October 7 massacre, anticipating a prolonged war that could cut off access to their traditional sources of funding, including Gazan banks and foreign supporters like Qatar.

In addition to salaries, Hamas operatives and their families are receiving humanitarian aid parcels containing food and basic supplies — items that ordinary Gazans must pay exorbitant prices to obtain, the BBC reported.

The group’s policy of prioritizing its members while hoarding seized humanitarian aid has become a major source of resentment among civilians, according to the report.

“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 Gazan widow with three children, told the BBC.

“Are they not the reason for our suffering? Why didn’t they secure food, water and medicine before launching their 7 October adventure?”

To further boost funds, Hamas has also been levying steep taxes on local merchants and selling goods at sky-high prices — most notably cigarettes, which are now being sold for over $170 per pack, compared to just $5 before the war.