According to the Israeli Embassy to the U.S., the leaders of Hamas based in Qatar and Turkey "line their pockets" with money knowing that they will be safe from the fighting. Meanwhile, ordinary Palestinians in Gaza rely on international assistance and must endure Hamas' ongoing wars against Israel.
The Times of Israel said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is living an easy life in Qatar, imposed a 20 percent tax on all of the trade passing through Gaza's tunnels – citing a 2014 report on the Israeli news site Ynet. Despite once promising to live only on olive oil and za'atar spice, the 61-year-old Haniyeh has built up a huge net worth now estimated at $4 billion.
The father of 13 has gone into hiding since 2019, living the good life in extravagant hotels in Qatar and Turkey. According to the German tabloid Bild, the Hamas bigwig often flies between Tehran, Istanbul, Moscow and Cairo in his private jet to meet leaders in friendly nations. (Related: Hamas leader meets with top Iranian official and Palestinian Islamic Jihad boss to stop Israel’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza.)
Haniyeh's net worth differs greatly from the local poverty in the Gaza Strip. Half of the population is unemployed, and per capita gross domestic product was about $5,600 yearly in 2021, making it one of the world's poorest places.
At least two other senior Hamas leaders are billionaires
Aside from Haniyeh, at least two other senior Hamas leaders have accumulated billions of dollars, profiting off the misery of the Gazan people. They are Mousa Abu Marzouk and Khaled Mashal.
Marzouk, 72, is considered the second-in-command within the group. Aside from serving as Haniyeh's deputy, he also fulfills the role of a foreign minister for Hamas. Marzouk lived for 14 years in America, and was arrested in 1995 for activities supporting terrorism.
He was deported in 1997 and moved to Jordan and Syria, before landing in Egypt in 2012. Despite his 1995 arrest, Marzouk kept hold of his money. Today his fortune is estimated at $2 billion.
Mashal, 67, is the former head of Hamas' political bureau. Like Haniyeh, he is also residing in Qatar where he manages the group's real estate and financial transactions.
When Mashal fled Syria to escape the Arab Spring, he is said to have taken $1.5 billion from Hamas' headquarters in Damascus. Israel's U.S. embassy places his net worth at $4 billion.
As reported by i24News, the wealth collected by Hamas' top officials is just the tip of the iceberg. The online outlet indicates that hundreds of Hamas leaders are sitting on millions, thanks to the taxation of goods delivered into the territory and through international donors, generally from Qatar.
One of them is the 67-year-old Younis Qafisheh, the groups most important financial manager. He has been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2022 because of being "involved in directing Hamas operations and holding key positions in several Hamas-controlled companies, including Sudan-based Agrogate Holding and Turkey-based Trend GYO." Trend GYO, which is also on America's terror watch list, reported a 2022 net income of 57.8 million Turkish lira (about $2.02 million).
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