Last month we discussed a BBC News website report about a strike on a Hamas commander and three others:
OMISSIONS IN BBC REPORTING ON TARGETED HAMAS COMMANDER
As was noted at the time:
“Quoting Hamas operative Mahmoud Basel, Cook and Abualouf go on to tell readers that:
“The Hamas-run Civil Defence spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, told the BBC that four people were killed in the strike. He said multiple passers-by were also injured by the blast.
A local Hamas official in Gaza told the BBC that the strike also killed Saad’s aide and another lower-ranking official identified as Abu Imad al-Laban.”
As reported by The Long War Journal and others, Hamas in fact stated that all three of the additional people killed in the strike – including al-Laban – were Hamas operatives.
“Hamas later named Riyad al Labban, Abd al Hayy Zaqout, and Yahya al Kayali as members who were also killed in the strike. While it is unclear what roles Zaqout and Kayali held, open-source evidence suggests that Labban may have been Saad’s bodyguard.””
Eleven days after that strike took place, the IDF revealed that Abd al Hayy Zaqout in fact “belonged to the finance department in the military wing of the organization” and “was responsible for raising tens of millions of dollars and transferring them to Hamas’s military wing”.
BBC audiences have not seen any follow-up reporting on the topic of Zaqout’s role in the Qassam Brigades financial department.
Ynet reported that Hamas’ rehabilitation efforts include the following:
“Hamas has also begun channeling significant sums of money, tens to hundreds of thousands of shekels per day, into its recovering treasury, Israeli officials say. The funds are generated in part through increased humanitarian aid that Israel allows into Gaza, amounting to about 4,200 truckloads per week, or between 600 and 800 trucks a day, some from the private sector.
The aid includes a wide range of goods and food products, which Hamas exploits through private trade by taxing merchants and collecting payments from the public, according to Israeli assessments.”
In addition, earlier in December the IDF had publicised the discovery of a Hamas financing network operating in Turkey. The Long War Journal reported that:
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed new intelligence pointing to a significant Hamas financial apparatus operating within Turkey under direct Iranian supervision. […]
The materials indicate that Hamas has constructed a sophisticated financial platform led by money changers—primarily Gazan expatriates living in Turkey—who have exploited Turkish banking and commercial infrastructure to fund terrorism. Israel assesses that these operatives managed large-scale economic activities, including the reception of Iranian capital, its laundering and storage, and the subsequent transfer of funds into Gaza and other Hamas-aligned nodes across the region.
The IDF and Shin Bet publicly identified three individuals involved with the financing network in Turkey. Tamar Hassan, reportedly “works directly under the leadership of Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya” and is a leader within Hamas’s de facto “finance ministry.” In addition, Khalil Farwana and Farid Abu Dayir were named as key facilitators working within the broader network of exchange companies.”
Back in August, the BBC’s “Gaza correspondent in Istanbul” – Rushdi Abualouf – told readers of the BBC News website that:
“It remains unclear how Hamas has managed to continue funding salary payments given the destruction of much of its administrative and financial infrastructure.
One senior Hamas employee, who served in high positions and is familiar with Hamas’s financial operations, told the BBC that the group had stockpiled approximately $700m in cash and hundreds of millions of shekels in underground tunnels prior to the group’s deadly 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel, which sparked the devastating Israeli military campaign. […]
Hamas has historically relied on funding from heavy import duties and taxes imposed on Gaza’s population, as well as receiving millions of dollars of support from Qatar.
The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing which operates through a separate financial system, is financed mainly by Iran.”
Notably, Abualouf has apparently not used his Hamas contacts to enquire about that Hamas financing network in the NATO country in which he and additional BBC staff are currently based and so BBC audiences remain unaware of that story.
