Hello all, I’m writing this newsletter to you in the context of the ongoing conflict in Israel / Gaza. What a week it’s been. I’ve had many questions about Hamas finance over the last few days, so the team and I are working on a series exploring that. Today, we’ll talk specifically about Hamas fundraising & revenue generation, and in future articles, we’ll look at how the group uses, moves, stores, manages, and obscures their funds. Each of these mechanisms presents different counter-financing opportunities, so they’re important to analyze separately. This is developing analysis, so please check back frequently for updates — we will add new information and refine our analysis as information becomes available. As always, I appreciate you sharing this newsletter with anyone who might be interested or find it useful.
Need a primer on Hamas? Terrorism expert Matthew Levitt was on Power and Politics yesterday providing much-needed context. Well-worth a watch:
Hamas Fundraising & Revenues
Hamas has both a large amount of revenue, but also a large number of expenses, as the group is responsible for the provision of services in Gaza. The group might have revenues as high as $590 million per year, but only a small part of that is likely allocated to military / terrorist activities. The rest is likely allocated to organizational financing (group maintenance) and service provision; however, as the events of the last few days have shown, Hamas has ample money to launch large, coordinated, and deadly terrorist attacks.
Hamas raises funds primarily through donations: from state sponsors (Iran), wealthy donors, and identity-based support networks. Historically, funds raised from Iran have ranged from $22 million to $70 million per year.1 Today, Iran is believed to provide some $100 million annually to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian groups, although the bulk of this likely goes to Hamas. Funds transferred from the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Qods Force (IRGC-QF) are likely provided directly to Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz-Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.