Cash-strapped Hamas too broke to pay fighters as Israel cracks down: report

Hamas has reportedly become so cash-strapped it is struggling to pay its fighters — as Israel’s ongoing offensive continues to derail the terror group’s funding and resources on the ground.Many senior Hamas fighters and political staffers have only been getting roughly half of their pay for several weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Arab intelligence officials.Hamas fighters had previously been averaging between $200 to $300 a month, the officials said.Meanwhile, salaries to many Hamas and Gaza government workers have stopped altogether, according to the sources.

“There is a big crisis in Hamas in terms of getting the money,” Moumen Al-Natour, a Palestinian lawyer from the Al-Shati refugee camp in central Gaza, said. The halted paychecks have also made it more difficult to recruit fighters, the sources claimed.The cash flow woes come after Israel last month cut off humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip — warning Hamas there would be “additional consequences” if they didn’t agree to a cease-fire deal.

Hamas had been seizing some of the humanitarian goods and then selling them off to raise funds for the terror group, according to Israeli, Arab, and Western officials.They would, in part, hit merchants with taxes and collect customs on trucks carrying humanitarian goods, the sources added.“They were mainly dependent on humanitarian aid sold in black markets for cash,” Al-Natour told the outlet.

Hamas, meanwhile, formally rejected Israel’s latest ceasefire offer — arguing it fell short of its demand to agree a full end to the war.Israel is demanding that Hamas release more hostages at the start of any new ceasefire and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the territory.The Jewish state has already said it plans occupy large “security zones” inside Gaza.Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’ negotiating delegation, said Thursday that the group had rejected Israel’s latest proposal.

He reiterated Hamas’ stance that it will re...