IDF: Hamas officials keeping Gazans in poverty, suffering

Following the IDF's invasion, it has been discovered that Hamas has been hoarding wealth away from Gazans living in poverty.

 Palestinians gather to collect water, amid shortages of drinking water, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 15, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)
Palestinians gather to collect water, amid shortages of drinking water, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 15, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

The IDF’s invasion has exposed the extent to which Hamas’s top officials have hoarded wealth away from their people in Gaza who are trapped in a cycle of poverty.

On Thursday, the IDF produced financial receipts it found during raids of Hamas locations in Gaza which were then analyzed by IDF intelligence officials.

Thousands of dollars in purchases

Among the receipts, is evidence that Moaz Haniyeh, the fourth son of Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh, purchased jewelry in recent years worth thousands of dollars at the same time that Hamas was accusing Israel of holding Gazans down in poverty.

Social media posts from IDF Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee display five receipts from Moaz acquiring jewelry both in Qatar and Gaza in 2021-2022 for over $25,000.

Adraee emphasized that “one receipt for jewelry purchased by Ismail Haniyeh's son is equivalent to approximately two years' work for a Gaza resident.”

 Palestinians use a donkey-drawn cart to flee north Gaza to move southward, as Israeli tanks roll deeper into the enclave, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip November 12, 2023. (credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)
Palestinians use a donkey-drawn cart to flee north Gaza to move southward, as Israeli tanks roll deeper into the enclave, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip November 12, 2023. (credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)

Previously, the Israeli Embassy to the US publicized that Ismail Haniyeh’s net worth is around $4 billion, with another top Hamas official, Khaled Mashaal, also having a similar net worth.

All of this contradicts Hamas’s messages to its people that it is clean and incorruptible and that its leaders live simple lives in contrast to the Palestinian Authority leaders, many of whom are known to be wealthy and corrupt.

Previous exposes in Saudi media and other foreign media have also given detailed accounts of Ismail and Maoz’s wealthy lifestyles.