Hamas has been robbing Gaza banks of hundreds of millions of shekels, the IDF Arabic Language Spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee said on Wednesday, exhibiting a document found by Israel Defense Forces troops in Gaza.
The document, written by a senior member of the terror group, outlined how terrorists stole from the bank to replenish its coffers depleted in the war.
Early in February, Hamas operatives threatened the staff at the Bank of Palestine branch in the affluent Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, warning them not to take out any of the cash in the vault, and on April 16 they broke into the branch and took 400 million shekels ($108 million).
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Hamas document detailing terror group robbing banks amid cash shortage in war
(Photo: IDF)
A report in the French newspaper Le Mond said the robbery, which it did not attribute to Hamas, sent bank officials into a panic. " 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. …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," Le Mond reported.
"We are revealing the document that details the financial crisis Hamas found itself in during the war," Adraee said as he outlined yet another incident on April 19, when another of the branches was robbed and hundreds of millions stolen.
"What will the residents of Gaza, who are becoming increasingly poorer, say?" he asked. "Hamas was shamelessly stealing from the Gaza civilians for its own survival and funding its terrorism on the backs and from the pockets of Gazans."
In November, the IDF officially announced the seizure of over $1 million in various currencies that were found in Hamas strongholds. The military then assigned a special division to take custody of the money found in private homes of Hamas terrorists or in the group's installations.
In December, troops searching the Jabaliya home of an unnamed senior member of Hamas uncovered two suitcases containing some five million shekels in cash.
During an operation in the Shifa hospital in March, the military said forces uncovered envelopes with cash prepared for Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives with "congratulations for your work," written on them.