How Hamas continues to pay salaries to 30,000 civil servants

Nearly two years into the conflict, Hamas’s military capabilities have been significantly weakened and its political leadership is under mounting pressure. However, the group continues to maintain its administrative grip through a covert cash-based payment system.

According to a BBC report, Hamas is still paying salaries to around 30,000 civil servants, disbursing an estimated $7 million despite the prolonged war and economic isolation.

The report added that BBC spoke with three current civil servants, all of whom confirmed receiving payments of nearly $300 each within the last week.

It’s believed they are among tens of thousands of employees who have continued to receive a maximum of just over 20% of their pre-war salary every 10 weeks, added the report.

Amid soaring inflation and extreme food shortages in Gaza, Hamas civil servants are receiving only a fraction of their full salaries — sparking growing frustration among loyalists.

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With flour prices reaching an unprecedented $80 per kilogram, and acute malnutrition on the rise, aid agencies blame the worsening crisis on Israeli restrictions.

The situation is further complicated by the collapse of Gaza’s banking system, making even partial salary payments both complex and dangerous.

According to the report, to avoid detection, Hamas uses an encrypted messaging system to alert employees — ranging from police to tax officials — when and where to collect their wages. Messages often instruct them to “meet a friend for tea” at a designated time and location.

There, a courier — sometimes male, sometimes female — silently hands over a sealed envelope of cash before disappearing.

Israel has routinely targeted these couriers in efforts to disrupt Hamas’s governing capacity, added the report.

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A Hamas Ministry of Religious Affairs employee, speaking anonymously, described the risks involved in simply retrieving his meagre wage.

“Every time I go to pick up my salary, I say goodbye to my wife and children. I know that I may not return,” BBC quoted the employee as saying.

“On several occasions, Israeli strikes have hit the salary distribution points. I survived one that targeted a busy market in Gaza City,” he added.

Speaking to the BBC, a schoolteacher working under the Hamas-run administration and the sole breadwinner for his family of six, described the harsh reality of surviving in Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis.

“I received 1,000 shekels (about $300) in worn-out banknotes — no trader would accept them. Only 200 shekels were usable — the rest, I honestly don’t know what to do with,” he was quoted as saying.

“After two-and-a-half months of hunger, they pay us in tattered cash,” he added.

Struggling to feed his children, he said he often turns to aid distribution points.

“I’m often forced to go to aid distribution points in the hope of getting some flour to feed my children. Sometimes I succeed in bringing home a little, but most of the time I fail,” said the schoolteacher.

In March, the Israeli military claimed to have killed Hamas’s finance chief, Ismail Barhoum, in a strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, accusing him of funnelling funds to the group’s military wing.

Despite the destruction of much of its financial and administrative infrastructure, Hamas has continued to pay salaries. The method remains unclear.

A senior Hamas official familiar with its finances told the BBC that the group had stockpiled around $700 million in cash and hundreds of millions of shekels in underground tunnels before launching its 7 October 2023 attack on Israel — the event that triggered the current war.

He claimed the funds were overseen by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohammed, both of whom have since been killed by Israeli forces.

Historically, Hamas has relied on revenue from import duties, local taxes, and substantial financial aid from Qatar.

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, operates a separate financial system reportedly funded primarily by Iran. A senior official of the banned Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood  has also claimed that around 10% of their budget supports Hamas.

To raise revenue during the war, Hamas has continued taxing traders and selling cigarettes at massively inflated prices — with a pack that once cost $5 now selling for over $170, reported BBC.

Alongside partial cash salaries, Hamas has distributed food parcels to its members through rotating local emergency committees. But this selective aid has triggered public outrage, with many accusing the group of prioritising loyalists while neglecting the broader population, added the report.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid during a ceasefire earlier this year — a claim Hamas denies.

However, BBC sources in Gaza confirmed that large amounts of aid were diverted by Hamas during that period.

With inputs from agencies