Report: Hamas Also Paying Terrorists, Families

Terrorists in Israeli prisons are getting hundreds of millions of shekels in payments from the Palestinian Authority – but they are getting money from Hamas as well, the IDF revealed in a report. In an interview with Yisrael Hayom, an IDF officer whose name was not published because of security concerns said the payments were being made via a surreptitious money-laundering network in Yehudah and Shomron – some of which has been revealed in IDF raids in recent months.

Israel recently cut about NIS 500 million from funds due the PA from taxes and duties as a fine against the Authority for its payments to terrorists in Israeli prisons. The PA has refused to accept the balance of the payments, demanding that it get all the money due it. As a result, civil servants in the PA, as well as terrorists in prisons and their families, have seen payments from the PA reduced or delayed.

But according to the IDF’s findings, terrorists and their families have another income stream – thanks to Hamas. Like the PA, Hamas has a multi-tiered payment system, with the biggest payments going to terrorists who killed numerous Jews in their attacks. “When a Hamas terrorist enters prison, he gets plenty of help, from the PA and from the terror organization that he committed the attack on behalf of. He gets money while in prison and when he gets out, the families also get plenty of support for weddings, tuition, paying debts, etc.”

Over the past three years, the IDF has seized some NIS 6 million used by Hamas for these purposes in raids of homes and businesses in Yehudah and Shomron. In addition, the IDF has confiscated property and goods that Hamas bought for families of terrorists.

“Hamas is working hard to expand its support base in Yehudah and Shomron. We have a great deal of work to do,” the officer told Yisrael Hayom. “We have increased by five times the resources dedicated to discover this money and seize it before it gets to terrorists and their families. We intend to continue doing this as part of our deterrence efforts against terrorism. Anyone who has or helps raise this money will be hurt economically, because we will take that money and they will not get it back.”