© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Palestinians receive cash as the United Nations begins distribute cash aid, funded by Qatar, to thousands of poor families, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, September 15, 2021. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo
The move provided a glimpse of a complex financial web, some legitimate, much hidden, that underpins Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, and its government in the Gaza Strip, which it has run since 2007. Hamas, sanctioned as a terrorist organization by the United States and countries such as Britain, had increasingly used cryptocurrencies, credit cards or contrived trade deals to avoid mounting international restrictions, Levitt said.
However, since last weekend's violence, prominent Hamas-linked support groups had moved just a few thousands dollars through crypto, TRM noted. Gas-rich Qatar too has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza since 2014, at one point spending $30 million per month to help operate the enclave's sole power plant and to support needy families and public servants in the Hamas-run government.