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Kush e financon Hamasin?

2023-10-17 10:49:48Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Kush e financon Hamasin?
Hamas

Palestinian militant group Hamas uses a global funding network to channel support from charities and friendly countries, funneling cash through Gaza tunnels or using cryptocurrencies to evade international sanctions, according to experts and officials.

However, Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, will face even greater obstacles to securing funding after a rampage by its own militants that killed hundreds of Israelis, mostly civilians. Israel has responded to Hamas with the most powerful bombing of Gaza in the history of the 75-year conflict.

Earlier this week, Israel Police said it froze a bank account at Barclays bank, which authorities say was linked to raising money for Hamas, and froze cryptocurrency accounts used to collect donations, without show exactly how many accounts nor their value.

This decision provided a small glimpse into the intricate financial network, less legal and more secret, which is the foundation of Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, and its Government in the Gaza Strip, which it has led since from 2007.

Matthew Levitt, a former US counter-terrorism official, estimates that most of Hamas's $300 million budget is raised from taxes on businesses, as well as from countries such as Iran and Qatar, or from charitable organizations.

In February last year, the US State Department said that Hamas has raised funds in other Gulf countries, and that it receives donations from Palestinians as well as other expatriates and its own charities.

In the past, Hamas has said that the restrictions placed on its donors were an attempt to "eliminate legitimate resistance " against Israel.

Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group in the United States and Great Britain, has made extensive use of cryptocurrencies, credit cards or fictitious trade deals to evade international sanctions, Levitt said.

" Hamas has been among the most successful users of cryptocurrencies for terrorist financing ," said Tom Robinson, co-founder of research technology Elliptic.

However, this year, Hamas said it would abandon crypto after a series of losses. The accounting system of cryptocurrencies can make such transactions traceable.

Blockchain researcher TRM Labs said this week that fundraising through crypto has increased in the past following rounds of violence involving Hamas. After the fighting in May 2021, crypto addresses controlled by Hamas accepted more than $400,000, TRM Labs said.

However, after the Oct. 7 violence, significant support groups affiliated with Hamas had sent him only a few thousand dollars via crypto, according to TRM.

" One of the possible reasons for the small amount of donations is that the Israeli authorities are attacking them immediately ," TRM said, adding that Israel has confiscated "tens of millions of dollars" worth of cryptocurrencies from addresses linked to Hamas in last years.

Between December 2021 and April this year, Israel confiscated almost 190 crypto accounts it said were linked to Hamas.

Whether through crypto or other avenues, Hamas allies have found ways to send money to Gaza. The US State Department has said Iran allocates up to $100 million a year to support Palestinian groups, including Hamas, and cited methods of moving the money through companies, shipping transactions and precious metals.

Iranian authorities did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Last year, Hamas established a secret network of companies that managed $500 million in investments from companies ranging from Turkey to Saudi Arabia, the US Treasury said, announcing sanctions on the firms in May 2022. .

Israel has long accused Iran's clerical leaders of fomenting violence by supplying weapons to Hamas.

Tehran, which does not recognize Israel, says it provides moral and financial support to the group.

Supporting the Palestinian cause has been a pillar of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution, as well as a way for this country to advertise itself as the leader of the Muslim world.

Also, gas-rich Qatar has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza since 2014. At one time it even gave it $30 million a month to help it keep its only power plant running and help needy families and civil servants in the Hamas-led Government.

"Qatari's aid provides $100 each to the poorest Palestinian families and to the increased supply of electricity during the day in Gaza ," a Qatari official said in a response to Reuters, adding that they have helped "maintain stability and quality of life for Palestinian families".

Qatar is in a difficult situation, as it hosts the largest military base of the United States in the region, the Taliban and other groups, often playing the role of mediator.

In fact, Qatar's funding of Gaza goes through Israel, a source said.

Money is sent electronically from Qatar to Israel. Then, Israel and UN officials send that cash across the border to Gaza.

The money is distributed directly to needy families and civil servants in Gaza, and each family or individual must sign next to their name that they have received the money. One copy of that document goes to Israel, one to the UN and another to Qatar.

"Qatar's aid to the Gaza Strip is done in full coordination with Israel, the UN and the United States ," said a Qatari Government official.

In recent years, Qatar bought fuel from Israel for the Gaza Strip's only power plant. He also shipped fuel from Egypt, which Hamas can resell, using the proceeds for salaries.

Stephen Reimer of the Royal United Services Institute predicted that new efforts to completely restrict Hamas' access to formal funding channels would have limited success.

"Their financing tactics have increased so much to avoid these [restrictions] ," he said. / REL


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