Employees of the Bank of Palestine's main branch in Gaza City discovered that a hole had been drilled into the ceiling of the vault on the morning of April 16. An unidentified armed group had broken into the bank's safe deposit room a few hours earlier, in the heart of the Rimal district, which before the war was the most affluent in the coastal enclave. The criminals got their hands on ATM cash containing the equivalent of €2.8 million in Israeli shekels. After attempting unsuccessfully to open the safes, they vanished into the ruined, largely depopulated city besieged by the Israeli army.
The details of this heist were recounted in a document dated April 20 that the Bank of Palestine forwarded to some of its international partners, and which Le Monde obtained. The incident sent the management of this private financial institution − the largest in the Palestinian territories − into a panic. Founded in Gaza in the 1960s, it has continued to be run by the enclave's prominent Shawwa family.
After consulting the Palestinian Authority and the Monetary Authority, which regulates Palestine's banking sector, bank officials took drastic measures to avoid further losses. A few hours after the robbery, the Rimal building was flooded with cement while large reserves of cash were still inside. But it was in vain. The very next morning, on April 17, armed groups equipped with explosives once again made their way into the building, as the document obtained by Le Monde states. They blew up the cement casing poured the day before and opened three safes, making off with the equivalent of €29 million in various currencies.
The following day, after consulting with customers and merchants, bank employees went to a second branch, the largest in the city center, to remove some of the funds stored there. But when they opened the branch doors, they found commandos waiting for them. These men claimed to have been sent "by the highest authorities in Gaza," according to the document, a phrase referring to Hamas. Threatening to execute the employees on the spot, they forced them to open the safes. Shots were fired but no one was injured, although one employee had to be taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack. The commandos made off with the equivalent of €33.6 million in Israeli shekels.
Including a prior heist carried out at night by armed men on April 7 at the Omar Al-Mokhtar Street branch (€3.7 million in various currencies), the bank has estimated its losses for the month at over €66 million. All of its other vaults have since been cemented shut. This series of attacks was confirmed to Le Monde by a local banker. The Bank of Palestine declined to comment.
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