Israel has the world's most advanced space defense system.
Israel possesses the world's most advanced space defense system. Its "Iron Dome" has been relatively successful in thwarting Hamas's aerial attacks for many years. However, on the 7th of last month, the militant group Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, Germany, and several other Western countries, launched nearly 2000 rockets at Israel, to some extent breaking through Israeli defense systems.
But the question is, how and from where did Hamas collect the resources for these attacks, breaking the most advanced defense system of one of the strongest forces in the world? According to analysts, cryptocurrency has played an important role in this.
Who is providing financial support to Hamas?
As a terrorist organization, Hamas faces sanctions in the international banking system.
However, according to reports, in recent years Hamas has received a significant amount of funding in the form of cryptocurrency.
According to BitOK, a crypto-analytics and software firm based in Tel Aviv, Hamas received $41 million between August 2021 and June 2023. According to Elliptic, another London-based crypto research firm, $93 million was provided to Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another militant group.
The group supported Hamas in recent attacks.
According to Elliptic, millions of dollars were also sent to the al-Qasim Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. These funds were given to them in the form of Bitcoin, stablecoin Tether and other digital currencies.
Due to Hamas, Gaza is facing economic sanctions from many countries. Movement of people and goods has been restricted by Israel and Egypt.
Despite all these restrictions, the American magazine "Forbes" called Hamas one of the richest terrorist organizations in the world in a 2014 analysis. According to the magazine's estimates, the annual assets of Hamas at that time were close to one billion dollars.
Most of the donations and funding to Hamas comes from the Gulf countries. Iran is considered one of the most important financial backers of Hamas.
According to the US State Department, powerful countries in the Middle East give Hamas and other Palestinian groups about $100 million a year in financial aid. Qatar and Turkey have also provided financial support to Hamas.
Hamas Crypto Accounts Freeze
Following the October 7 attacks, Israeli authorities announced that several cryptocurrency accounts linked to Hamas had been frozen, with the support of cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
According to a police statement, "Cyber Unit and Ministry of Defense immediately took action to trace and freeze these accounts so that these funds can be transferred to the state exchequer."
Binance is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. It is currently under close surveillance as it is accused of indirectly supporting terrorism.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in recent years authorities have attempted to seize cryptocurrency held in dozens of Binance accounts linked to Hamas.
According to United Nations estimates, digital currencies account for 20 percent of global terrorist financing. Critics argue that cryptocurrencies are an excellent source of funding for terrorist elements because payments are difficult to track and enforce.
"This is alarming," US Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on X. It is a wake-up call for lawmakers that digital accounts linked to Hamas received millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies.”