Citing “reliable research estimates,” the PA stated in December 2025 that Hamas had raised no less than “$11 billion,” which the terror organization had spent filling its own warehouses “to the brim” rather than spending it on Gazans.
By Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Palestinian Media Watch
The PA is finally admitting a truth that Israel has known and reported for years: International donations meant to aid the Gazan population have gone to Hamas and its terrorists instead.
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA has been asking for unity with Hamas because Hamas is more popular than Mahmoud Abbas’ leading party, Fatah, while at the same time it condemns Hamas for having brought destruction on the Gaza Strip.
Now the PA is accusing Hamas of stealing millions from the Gazans.
A columnist for the official PA daily, Bassem Barhoum, wrote that international donors believe they are relieving the suffering of Gazan civilians but in fact their donations reach the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas instead:
“Every time Hamas confronts Israel and the confrontation prolongs and turns into a war… it serves their interests.
They collect donations from all over the world, especially from Islamic states where the donor believes he is contributing to alleviating the suffering of his Palestinian brothers.
However, these donations reach the Muslim Brotherhood and their international organization, which are now replete with billions from the spilling of the Palestinians’ blood.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 8, 2026]
Barhoum also pointed out that Hamas’ leadership abroad never cared about the Gazan population but just used their suffering to raise money.
He also speculated that the Oct. 7 War was launched as a “financially calculated move” by the Muslim Brotherhood to make money:
“The Hamas leadership living abroad neither sees nor feels the tragedy of the people in the Gaza Strip because its real goals do not include thinking about the people’s situation but rather collecting money through donations in the name of the Gaza Strip’s tragedy.
Most of this money goes to the international organization of the [Muslim Brotherhood] organization, which has effectively become a huge financial institution.
For it, the Gaza Strip is its main project, and perhaps the most important [project], as it brings it the most money…
The civilians of the Gaza Strip are just fuel… What unleashed [Israel’s] criminal hand was ‘the Hamas flood,’ which we naively believed was an uncalculated action, but in fact, it was a financially calculated move by the international Muslim Brotherhood organization.
Two years of war and two years of fundraising—what project could be more profitable for the organization than this?”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2025]
An editorial in the official PA daily pointed out that Hamas first raised money for its terror against Israel and then used the suffering in Gaza to make more money for itself:
“Those responsible (i.e., Hamas) for this ‘Flood’ (i.e., Hamas’ name for its Oct. 7 war against Israel), who for the past two years… have been going around and raising billions in the name of ‘the resistance’ (i.e., terror movement), are now going around to raise additional funds in the name of the orphans of the Israeli war, which the ‘Flood’ brought about. [They do this] with slogans covered in emotion and with the same crocodile tears!”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 6, 2026]
In another editorial, written during the Oct. 7 War, the PA criticized Hamas for accumulating wealth rather than caring for the population:
“The safes of Hamas are stuffed with gift money, grants, and donations for the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as funds from commercial investments, particularly in money exchange markets and money transfers.
However, not a single dirham has been taken from these safes to provide emergency relief for the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, and none will be taken out!
This is because Hamas has no intention of spending a penny on this matter, for as [Hamas Chairman in Gaza] Khalil Al-Hayya stated, Hamas’ money is for Hamas! … The displaced people in the Gaza Strip… are wondering today why these funds, which were collected in their name, remain locked in these safes and why their owners do not think of others.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 14, 2025]
A news broadcast on PA TV last year accused Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood of pretending to collect charity and stealing donations so their leaders could spend the money on themselves, living the good life abroad, far away from the Gaza Strip:
The following are screenshots of some of the donation checks to the Gaza Strip shown in the video. They are donations from Mauritania of millions of dollars:
Citing “reliable research estimates,” the PA stated in December 2025 that Hamas had raised no less than “$11 billion,” which the terror organization had spent filling its own warehouses “to the brim” rather than spending it on Gazans:
“According to reliable research estimates, during the two years of the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip (i.e., Hamas’ Oct. 7 war on Israel), which has not yet ended, the Hamas Movement raised about $11 billion on behalf of Gaza’s residents! …
There is no trace of any part of these billions in the devastated Gaza Strip. This means that they have not gone to any purpose other than to be piled up in [Hamas’] warehouses, which are filled to the brim…$11 billion, and it does not buy a single tent for the uprooted people.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 16, 2025]
While the West is eager to blame Israel for the suffering in the Gaza Strip, donor countries and organizations would be wise to do a bit of soul searching and check where their money went before they sign a generous check to Hamas or other terrorists again.
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily:
“Hamas, the art of deception, and the term ‘resistance identity.'”
“The role of Hamas, and the justification for its establishment from the perspective of the Muslim Brotherhood, is to bring them and their international organization enormous sums of money.
Every time Hamas confronts Israel and the confrontation prolongs and turns into a war, and every time disaster and great suffering befall the Palestinian people, it serves their interests.
They collect donations from all over the world, especially from Islamic states where the donor believes he is contributing to alleviating the suffering of his Palestinian brothers.
However, these donations reach the Muslim Brotherhood and their international organization, which is now replete with billions from the spilling of the Palestinians’ blood.
The second goal is to increase the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab and Islamic world and among Arab and Islamic communities in Europe, the US, and the rest of the world, and they achieve successes in all of these.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 8, 2026]
“The Martyrs, the wounded, the prisoners, and the displaced number in the hundreds of thousands. The destruction is as extensive and ugly as possible.
Without any deceit and without any betrayal of the truth, the Oct. 7, [2023] ‘[Al-Aqsa] Flood’ (Hamas’ name for its terror war against Israel; see note below—Ed.) created nothing on the ground in practical terms except disaster.
Those responsible for this ‘Flood,’ who for the past two years of the Israeli war of annihilation have been going around and raising billions in the name of ‘the resistance’ (i.e., terror), are now going around to raise additional funds in the name of the orphans of the Israeli war, which the ‘Flood’ brought about. [They do this] with slogans covered in emotion and with the same crocodile tears!
For them, the resistance is no longer a sought-after commodity in which they trade to get rich, as they have turned the orphans into their new merchandise, and without any shame, they demand that the world take responsibility for them.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 6, 2026]
“It does not think of others!”
“The safes of Hamas are stuffed with gift money, grants, and donations for the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as funds from commercial investments, particularly in money exchange markets and money transfers.
However, not a single dirham has been taken from these safes to provide emergency relief for the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, and none will be taken out!
This is because Hamas has no intention of spending a penny on this matter, for as [Hamas Chairman in Gaza] Khalil Al-Hayya stated, Hamas’ money is for Hamas! Hamas has not read, and will not read, the words of our late great poet Mahmoud Darwish: ‘When you return home, to your home, think of others; do not forget the people of the tents.’
The displaced people in the Gaza Strip, whom Hamas’ ‘[Al-Aqsa] Flood’ (Hamas’ name for its terror war against Israel; see note below—Ed.) has turned into a ‘people in tents,’ are wondering today why these funds, which were collected in their name, remain locked in these safes and why their owners do not think of others.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 14, 2025]
“The ‘Flood’ drowned the Gaza Strip, and Mashaal wins?”
“The Hamas leadership living abroad neither sees nor feels the tragedy of the people in the Gaza Strip because its real goals do not include thinking about the people’s situation but rather collecting money through donations in the name of the Gaza Strip’s tragedy (refers to Hamas’ Oct. 7 war on Israel; see note below—Ed.).
Most of this money goes to the international organization of the [Muslim Brotherhood] organization, which has effectively become a huge financial institution. For it, the Gaza Strip is its main project and perhaps the most important [project], as it brings it the most money.
Anyone who watched [Hamas leader] Khaled Mashaal’s interview, and anyone who follows the interviews of the Hamas leaders, will notice the happiness and joy on their faces and will not sense any feeling of sorrow over the civilians in the Gaza Strip.
For them, the ‘[Al-Aqsa] Flood’ (Hamas’ name for its terror war against Israel—Ed.) achieved the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood, while the civilians of the Gaza Strip are just fuel, and therefore there is no need to express feelings towards those who serve as fuel for the organization’s goals.
There is no doubt that Israel, and especially the extremist right-wing government, is directly responsible for what happened and is happening to the civilians in the Gaza Strip.
However, what unleashed its criminal hand was ‘the Hamas flood,’ which we naively believed was an uncalculated action, but in fact, it was a financially calculated move by the international Muslim Brotherhood organization.
Two years of war and two years of fundraising—what project could be more profitable for the organization than this?”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2025]
“Where did the billions raised by Hamas on behalf of Gaza’s residents go?”
“According to reliable research estimates, during the two years of the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip (Hamas’ Oct. 7 war on Israel; see note below—Ed.)—which has not yet ended—the Hamas Movement raised about $11 billion on behalf of Gaza’s residents! …
So far, there is no trace of any part of these billions in the devastated Gaza Strip. This means that they have not gone to any purpose other than to be piled up in [Hamas’] warehouses, which are filled to the brim.
It does not spend anything from them to pay its moral debt, at least to this blood [that was shed due to it].
On the contrary, it demands that the world pay this debt! $11 billion, and it does not buy a single tent for the uprooted people who were struck by the fascist Israeli war because of Hamas’ ‘[Al-Aqsa] Flood’ (Hamas’ name for its terror war against Israel)!”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 16, 2025]
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