Hamas Extorts Aid Trucks in Gaza Amid Severe Financial Crisis

Three years into the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Hamas is facing severe financial distress, requiring approximately 90 million shekels each month solely to pay salaries to its operatives. According to defense establishment assessments, the terrorist organization currently maintains about 30,000 operatives inside the enclave, ranging from low-ranking bureaucrats to armed fighters. Each operative receives an average monthly salary of about 3,000 shekels, totaling roughly 90 million shekels monthly.

Extortion of Aid Trucks and Merchants

To prevent the collapse of the organization, Hamas has imposed exorbitant taxes on Gazan merchants, including those receiving goods from outside the Strip via aid trucks. These merchants are now required to pay Hamas up to 10,000 shekels per truck, alongside a demand to transfer in cash the equivalent of 30% of the truck's cargo value. With roughly 300 aid trucks entering the Strip daily, Hamas amasses approximately 3 million shekels every single day. Crushed by the heavy tax burden, many merchants have refused to collect their trucks, choosing to forfeit the goods entirely. Consequently, market prices in Gaza City have soared, and Hamas is quickly exploiting the resulting shortages.

Defense officials emphasize that Gaza is not experiencing starvation, noting that roughly 250 aid trucks per day fully meet the population's needs under strict monitoring to prevent diversion to terrorists.

Reviving the Starvation Campaign

Defense sources reveal that Hamas is planning to relaunch its propaganda "starvation campaign" initially conducted in the summer of 2025. This renewed psychological campaign aims to exert heavy international political pressure on Israel. The terrorist organization hopes the global community will intervene to halt the progress of the U.S. administration's point-based plan led by President Donald Trump, and stop the demilitarization of the Strip and the disarmament of Hamas.