Internal Hamas documents show the group has been “systematically exploiting” the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza throughout the ongoing war in order to fund its terror activities, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday, citing captured papers.
The military said the group has done so by confiscating the aid itself; then giving some of it to fighters and selling some to civilians at exorbitant prices; by smuggling forbidden products such as cigarettes into the Strip and selling them at great cost; by demanding protection payments from Gazans living in areas under the group’s effective governing control; and through informal banking transfers, in coordination with Hamas representatives in Turkey.
The IDF released a document Thursday it said was drawn up by Hamas, indicating that the group has maintained a policy of confiscating 15%-25% of aid entering Gaza during the war in order to finance its operations and pay operatives.
“In the past Al Qassam [the Hamas military wing] took 25% of the aid that arrived,” according to the document. “It has been agreed with the brothers in Al Qassam that the percentages will be changed as such: 7% to Qassam, 4% to government entities, 4% to elements of the [Hamas] movement.”
The IDF said the document was part of a “wide range of intelligence information” that had been analyzed.
Other intelligence indicated that Hamas acted to smuggle goods — in particular tobacco products — that are not allowed by Israel to enter the Strip and then sold them at exorbitant prices. The military added that Hamas forbids local, independent vendors access to the products.
“In light of this, as part of the entry of humanitarian aid, cigarettes are not allowed to enter the Gaza Strip through the crossings,” the IDF said, adding that inspectors at border crossings “have thwarted dozens of attempts to smuggle tobacco products” since the start of the war.
The military also said that Hamas — which has ruled the enclave for almost two decades — has demanded protection fees from Gazans, providing another source of income.
Finally, the IDF said that Hamas in Gaza has received “hundreds of millions of shekels from Iran and other sources” in payments facilitated by the group’s members in Turkey, through a Muslim hawala network, in which individuals, rather than banks, broker money transfers.
“Hamas exploited the humanitarian aid process and international aid organizations, whether knowingly or through manipulation, by pushing for the entry of ‘excess’ aid items, purchased using Hamas’s external funds, into Gaza. Hamas then sold the aid at inflated prices to residents and collected the cash proceeds,” the IDF said.
In addition to the Hamas documents, the IDF shared a March 2024 letter from a resident of Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood to a senior Hamas official complaining that the day before, members of the Hamas internal security force had taken 17 bags of flour and 15 aid coupons from his brother’s truck. The aid was purchased by his brother in Rafah and was meant for his extended family.
“We have a full list of the names of the intended recipients,” said the man, Idris Abdel Rahman Idris. “I express my hope that the confiscated aid will be returned to its legal owners.”
Israel has said throughout the war that Hamas is exploiting humanitarian aid to maintain control over Gaza. On March 2, following the collapse of a hostage-ceasefire deal, Israel cut off the entry of aid into the Strip; the blockade was partially lifted on May 19, and an average of 65 aid trucks have entered Gaza each day since.
The IDF said Thursday that the 78-day blockade “led to a significant decrease in Hamas’s profits,” leading to “severe financial difficulties within the organization, to the extent that they were forced to reduce, and at times completely suspend, salary payments to some of the members.”
The military also said that following its in-depth study of Hamas’s aid exploitation, new measures have been launched to improve oversight at crossings. The statement cited a system for registering NGOs participating in the aid effort, and plans to sanction them if they fail to abide by policy, customs procedures and “verification” of aid packages’ contents, and improved security inspections.
Since the end of the blockade in May, Hamas has pushed for the resumption of aid distribution through UN-backed mechanisms. Israel and the US, however, say these mechanisms allowed the terror group to divert much of the aid and have instead backed the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach GHF distribution points since they began operating in late May, according to Hamas’s civil defense agency. The IDF has confirmed firing warning shots in at least eight instances, but disputed the Hamas death tolls.
On Thursday, GHF accused Hamas of attacking a bus carrying its Palestinian aid workers, killing at least eight, and preventing the wounded from being treated at a hospital in the Strip. GHF interim CEO John Acree also said some employees “may have been taken hostage.”
The terror group later said it had killed 12 members of the Israeli-backed Abu Shabab militia in Gaza.
