Overview

• Hamas disburses about $7 million in cash every ten weeks to roughly 30,000 civil servants through a covert network launched after Gaza’s banking system collapsed.
• Employees receive encrypted texts directing them to secret locations where couriers hand over sealed envelopes, risking exposure to Israeli strikes on distribution points.
• Payments amount to just over 20 percent of pre-war wages and often arrive as worn-out banknotes that merchants refuse, further eroding civil servants’ incomes.
• The group relies on nearly $700 million in pre-war reserves buried in underground tunnels to sustain its salary network despite repeated Israeli strikes on finance figures.
• Hamas uses its Gaza Ministry of Social Development to charge up to 20 percent withdrawal fees on international cash assistance, routing disbursements through the PA’s Ramallah office to ensure its authorities select recipients.