Conditions in Gaza have long been terrible, with the area described by some as the “largest open-air prison in the world.”
Even before the war broke out after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, half of the Palestinians living in Gaza were dependent on food supplies from the United Nations.
Those conditions have worsened in the last month as Israel continues its bombardment of the 140-square-mile strip to wipe out the Hamas terror group.
But while the territory’s 2.3 million residents suffer, several hundred millionaires are registered in the coastal strip.
And while the majority of citizens in the densely populated area – which is a quarter the size of Greater London – languish in poverty, a few live in marble-floored villas and luxury hotels.
According to the Israeli embassy in the US, three of Hamas’ top leaders – Mousa Abu Marzouk, Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh – have net assets of more than $3 billion each. The embassy also claims that Hamas’s annual revenue is $1 billion, suggesting that the group is the second richest terror group in the world after ISIS.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (far right) is seen on a private plane with other senior Hamas officials
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (center) pictured in a luxury hotel with two of his sons
Hamas is best known for its military wing. There are reportedly 40,000 terrorists wearing the group’s badge, thousands of whom were involved in the October 7 attack. They are armed to the teeth with guns and rockets and have vowed to destroy Israel.
But the group is also the de facto authority that governs Gaza, directing organizations such as the health system, social services and the media.
It seized power in 2006, and its political leader Ismail Haniyeh assumed the role of prime minister that year. It remains in control of the territory and, having not held elections since then, is essentially an authoritarian regime.
In the years since taking power, the group’s leaders have profited from the misery of Gaza’s population.
In a video, the Israeli embassy in the US accused the group of using its funds to build tunnels and arm its fighters, rather than building vital infrastructure such as wells and water treatment.
A 2021 study found that about a quarter of the disease spread in the area is caused by water pollution and 12 percent of infant deaths are due to infections linked to contaminated water.
“While Gazans are deprived of basic needs, Hamas is using aid and funds to line its own pockets,” the embassy said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Israel has also said that Hamas continues to attack across the border without building civilian bomb shelters, knowing full well that the Israeli military will retaliate.
Instead, Israel claims that Hamas’ leadership hoards its wealth, uses Palestinians as human shields and starves the population it supposedly rules.
According to the German news agency Bild, there are four Hamas officials who have become particularly rich over the years – the trio Abu Marzouk, Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh – and a fourth named Younis Qafisheh.
Hamas seized power over Gaza in 2006, and its political leader Ismail Haniyeh (pictured in 2021) assumed the role of prime minister this year. It maintains control of the territory
Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashal (left) and senior Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzouk attend a meeting between Iran’s foreign minister and the head of Hamas’ political bureau in Doha
Haniyeh is considered the richest of the three – although he once vowed to live solely on olive oil and za’atar spice.
Haniyeh, a 61-year-old father of 13, has been in hiding since 2019, living the high life in luxury hotels in Qatar and Turkey.
Bild reports that he often flies between Tehran, Istanbul, Moscow and Cairo on his private jet to meet leaders in friendly countries, and two of his sons Maaz and Abdel Salam are often seen in Instagram posts Lounging on hotel beds in Istanbul or Doha.
Maaz, who is also very rich as a real estate mogul, is considered the “father of houses” in the Gaza Strip. When he is in Turkey, despite his Islamic faith, he is often seen in the company of attractive women and alcohol.
Meanwhile, his brother Salam has fallen from grace after it was discovered that he was skimming money as a sports ambassador for Hamas’ “Shura Council” (Politburo), Bild reports.
The publication estimates his net worth at $2.5 million, while the Israeli embassy in the US puts it at 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion). Another publication, i24News, wrote last month that his fortune could be as high as $5 billion.
Khaled Mashal, 67, is the former head of Hamas’ political bureau.
He fled Damascus to escape the Arab Spring in Syria and, like Haniyeh, now lives in Qatar. From there he handles real estate and financial transactions for Hamas.
According to Bild, when he fled Syria, he took $1.5 billion with him from the Hamas headquarters in Damascus. The Israeli US Embassy estimates his net worth at $4 billion.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, 72, is another Hamas high-flyer. He is considered the group’s deputy and is a kind of foreign minister.
After spending 14 years in the United States (where he was arrested in 1995 for activities supporting terrorism and deported after two years), he moved from there to Jordan, then to Syria and finally to Cairo in 2012.
Despite his arrest, he kept his money and today Bild says his fortune is estimated at $2 billion, while the Israeli embassy in the US puts it higher at $3 billion.
The fourth rich senior Hamas official highlighted by Bild is Younis Qafisheh, 67.
Khaled Mashal, the former head of Hamas’ political bureau, plays table tennis
Khaled Mashal is seen training in a gym (file photo)
Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government in Gaza, poses in front of a marina
He is one of the terrorist group’s key financial managers and has been on the US sanctions list since 2022 because he was “involved in directing Hamas operations.” [holding] Key positions in several Hamas-controlled companies, including Sudan-based Agrogate Holding and Turkey-based Trend GYO.
Trend GYO, which is also on the US terror watch list, reported a net profit of 57.8 million Turkish lira (around two million euros) for 2022.
However, according to i24News, the wealth amassed by top Hamas officials is just the tip of the iceberg.
The online portal notes that hundreds of mid- to high-level Hamas leaders are sitting on millions thanks to taxes on goods brought into the territory and by international donors, mostly in Qatar.
Although some estimates of Hamas’ wealth are conservative, there is no question that they have amassed enormous wealth.
In May 2022, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a Hamas financial official and other financial intermediaries.
It said: “The Hamas Investment Office, whose leadership oversees this network, had assets estimated to be worth more than $500 million, including companies operating in Sudan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and… operating in the United Arab Emirates.”
And according to documents seen by German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, the group has a financial empire outside Gaza worth £600 million.
But how did Hamas accumulate its wealth?
Because Hamas is a terrorist group, it is cut off from support from states such as the United States and the European Union, both of which support the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank.
Historically, Palestinian expats and private benefactors in the Middle East, along with some Islamic charities in the West, provided much of the group’s funding.
Israel has also in the past allowed Qatar to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to authorities in Gaza, while other foreign aid comes through the Palestinian Authority and United Nations aid agencies.
But Hamas has also been able to generate its own revenue by taxing goods transported through an elaborate network of tunnels that bypass the Egyptian border crossing in the south, bringing in food, medicine, fuel and cash, as well as weapons.
Egypt also allows entry of some commercial goods. According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), in 2021, Hamas reportedly collected more than $12 million per month in taxes levied on Egyptian goods imported into Gaza.
Today, Iran is one of Hamas’ largest donors. The country – an arch-enemy of Israel – provides the group with money, weapons and military training.
It provides about $100 million a year to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other groups designated as terrorist organizations, according to CFR.
Turkey has also been a supporter of Hamas and a critic of Israel. Although Ankara says it only supports the group’s political wing, it has also been accused of financing Hamas’s terrorist activities through aid diverted to the group’s military wing.
One of Haniyeh’s sons poses for an Instagram photo at a luxury hotel
Haniyeh’s sons and other Hamas officials are seen at a luxury hotel
A group of Hamas officials are seen visiting the Iranian ambassador in Moscow
However, despite accumulating wealth, Hamas avoided responsibility for building infrastructure and protecting Gaza’s citizens.
In fact, just last week, Abu Marzouk stated that the terrorist group’s political office was not responsible for protecting the civilian population of the coastal strip against the backdrop of the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the area.
“We built the tunnels because we have no other way to protect ourselves from being killed in air strikes.” “We are fighting out of the tunnels,” he said.
Passing the buck, he added: “75 percent of Gaza’s population are refugees and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them.”
According to The Times of Israel, he then claimed that under the Geneva Convention it was Israel’s obligation to provide for the needs of Gazans.
While all of Hamas’s sources of income will never be fully known, one thing is certain: the group will not divert its funds to help Gaza’s civilians, who are falling deeper and deeper into a humanitarian crisis with each passing day.