Hamas Made Over $500 Million in 2024 by Seizing Gaza Aid, Israeli Adviser Says
Dr. Ophir Falk accuses the terror group of profiting from humanitarian supplies while deliberately starving hostages and blocking independent aid distribution.
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Hamas earned more than half a billion dollars in 2024 by taking control of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza and reselling them on the private market, according to Dr. Ophir Falk, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and member of Israel’s hostage negotiation team.
In an opinion piece published in the New York Sun, Falk claimed Hamas’s strategy is to maximize civilian casualties and suffering, both Israeli and Palestinian, as a propaganda weapon. “Hamas targets Israeli civilians, hides behind Palestinian civilians, and then lies about it,” Falk wrote.
“The only people deliberately starved in Gaza are the hostages.”
He pointed to a recent propaganda video in which, at the 2:31 mark, the “plump arm of a Hamas operative” handing a food package to a hostage is shown alongside the “emaciated arm” of Israeli hostage Eviatar David.
Falk revealed that during hostage negotiations in Doha, Hamas demanded full control over the distribution of international aid entering Gaza. “A central sticking point was Hamas’s insistence on a veto over who can distribute food. Hamas wants all aid delivered through the Red Crescent and specific UN agencies such as UNRWA, because Hamas controls them,” he said. “Any aid distributed by organizations outside Hamas’s control threatens their rule and their so-called humanitarian business operations.”
According to Falk, the group’s seizure and resale of humanitarian goods in 2024 generated more than $500 million, helping fund its military activities and recruitment. “By looting and reselling aid at inflated prices, Hamas finances its attacks and recruits new terrorists,” he wrote.
Falk also criticized Western governments, including France, the UK, and Canada, that have called for recognition of a Palestinian state since the October 7 attacks.
“In Europe and Canada, left-wing governments dependent on radical Islamist votes choose to appease terror rather than confront it,” Falk argued.
"Calling for a Palestinian state now is not only a moral failure and a massive reward for terror, it is also a terrible obstacle to freeing the hostages.”
He concluded that Israel would ultimately free the hostages, remove Hamas from Gaza, and enable the formation of a peaceful government there.