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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kz42j92jmo
Hamas Continues to Pay Members during Gaza War
(BBC News) Rushdi Abualouf - Throughout nearly two years of war, Hamas has used a secret cash-based payment system to pay 30,000 civil servants' salaries. The BBC has spoken to three civil servants who confirmed they have received nearly $300 each within the last week. Tens of thousands of employees have continued to receive 20% of their pre-war salary every 10 weeks. The token salary - a fraction of the full amount - is causing rising resentment among the party faithful. Since there is no functioning banking system in Gaza, and Israel regularly identifies and targets Hamas salary distributors, employees often receive an encrypted message on their phones or their spouses' instructing them to go to a specific location at a specific time to "meet a friend for tea." One senior Hamas employee who is familiar with Hamas's financial operations told the BBC that the group had stockpiled $700 million in cash and hundreds of millions of shekels in underground tunnels prior to the group's Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel.