On October 10, three days after the brutal onslaught by Hamas and other Gazan terror groups against Israel, the cyber branch of the Israel Police froze several cryptocurrency accounts belonging to Hamas, after the terror group attempted to raise money on social media in the immediate aftermath of the assault. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have attempted to fundraise via cryptocurrency since at least 2019 in search of money outside the most common channels for financial transfers. The groups are designated as terrorist organizations in Israel, the US and throughout the Western world, and therefore have restricted access to the international banking system. Since 2021, Gaza terror groups are estimated to have raised over $130 million in cryptocurrency — around $41 million by Hamas and $93 million by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Most of the international funding for the Gazan terror groups comes from Iran, which has sponsored Hamas with some $100 million annually and the PIJ to the tune of tens of millions, according to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Hamas has also received over $1.5 billion in disbursements from Qatar over the past decade. The funds are officially aimed at covering salaries for public workers, fuel purchases and transfers to poor families, but the terror group deducts part of the payments and keeps it for its own operations. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have become an important fundraising channel for illicit activities and terror groups in recent years, since they allow the swift transfer of money around the world, bypassing banks through digital wallets. Hamas’s military arm, the al-Qassam Brigades, began soliciting Bitcoin donations in 2019, first on its Telegram channel and later directly on its official websites, according to the US Department of Justice.
Full report : Terrorists raised $130m in crypto since 2021; sought more via social media after attack.
