This, as well as the restriction of aid, has led to significant anger amongst ordinary Gazans.
Nisreen Khaled, a widow who looks after her three children following the death of her husband from cancer five years ago, said, “When the hunger worsened, my children were crying not only from pain but also from watching our Hamas-affiliated neighbours receive food parcels and sacks of flour.”
Khaled added, “Are they not the reason for our suffering? Why didn’t they secure food, water, and medicine before launching their 7 October adventure?”
Hamas has reportedly used a secret cash-based system to pay 30,000 civil servants’ salaries, leading to a wage bill of £5.3 million.
The BBC spoke to several Gazan civil servants who said that they had received nearly $300 each in the past week.
Israel regularly targets Hamas salary dispensers, with the aim of eroding Hamas’ governance of Gaza.
The civil servants, including police officers and tax officials, receive encrypted text messages telling them “meet a friend for tea” at a given time and location.
They are then met by a Hamas dispenser, who hands them a sealed envelope containing their salary in cash.
However, the Al-Qassam Brigades – Hamas’ militant units – are reportedly funded through a “separate financial system”, mostly using money from Iran. A senior Muslim Brotherhood official is also quoted saying that 10 per cent of the group’s annual budget was funneled to Hamas.
