Security Forces Break Hamas Finance Ring

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — The IDF and Shin Bet broke a Hamas financing ring that used Gazans with permits to enter Israel to funnel money to terrorists in Yehudah and Shomron.

Hamas recruited people allowed into Israel on work and medical permits, as well as students at Birzeit University, to transfer funds to their operatives in the region and to Hamas members in Turkey, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Thursday.

A group of student activists at Birzeit were arrested after being caught in possession of credit cards that were used to transfer illegal funds from Hamas in Gaza to Hamas officials in Turkey.

In August, Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed several designations and property-seizure orders, imposing international restrictions on 20 parties involved in Hamas’ investment network, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to the Defense Ministry, the Hamas system is part of the terror group’s international financing campaign and the group “covertly manages a mechanism valued at hundreds of millions of dollars through a network of international companies that operate under the guise of legitimate companies” that conceal Hamas’ control of their holdings.