IDF Arabic spokesman Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee revealed on Wednesday a Hamas document, which shows how the organization planned to rob bank safes in Gaza.
A month later, hundreds of millions of shekels were allegedly stolen from bank branches in the Gaza Strip by Hamas.
"We are revealing a document written by a senior Hamas official, which shows that following Hamas's financial hardships during the war, the organization's terrorists broke into Bank of Palestine branches in Gaza and stole over NIS 400 million," Adraee said in a video posted on his X account.#عاجل الكشف عن وثيقة داخلية صادرة عن حماس والتي تبيّن مخطط لعناصر في الحركة نهب خزنات أحد البنوك في غزة، لتتم بعدها بشهر سرقة مئات الملايين من الشواقل من فروع بنك فلسطين في القطاع على يد حماس⭕️نكشف عن وثيقة قام بصياغتها عنصر بارز في حماس الذي يدعى أبو جهاد في العاشر من أذار… pic.twitter.com/FMUV0PKtuq
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 29, 2024
"In early February, Hamas thugs threatened the Bank of Palestine staff in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City not to take the cash out of the bank's safes, and on April 16, they stole hundreds of millions of shekels from the branch. Two days later, they broke into another branch in Gaza City and stole tens of millions of shekels. On April 19, the terrorists committed another robbery at the main branch of the bank in Gaza City, stealing hundreds of millions of shekels," Adraee continued.
"What will the residents of Gaza say, who are poorer day by day because of the bloody adventures of these child-killing tyrants? Hamas steals from the citizens of the Gaza Strip for the sake of its survival without any shame, and finances its terrorist activities on the backs and pockets of the residents of the Gaza Strip," the spokesperson concluded.
Money previously transferred to Bank of Israel
About a month and a half ago, the Defense Ministry and the IDF transferred NIS 12 million to the Bank of Israel, which was subsequently seized in terrorist strongholds in the Gaza Strip. This sum is added to approximately NIS 17 million seized in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war and deposited in a similar procedure in the Bank of Israel. The body responsible for locating the money is the IDF Technological and Logistics Directorate (TLD), which confiscated and located the terrorist funds from the Gaza Strip.
The process of counting the money took place at the Tzrifin base, and took about five hours. The head of the finance department at the Defense Ministry, the commanders of the Public Relations Department, the Senior deputy accountant general at the Finance Ministry, and other representatives were present at the scene and supervised the process. At the end, the money was placed in designated envelopes, and at noon, a "Brinks" truck arrived at the scene and transferred the money to be deposited in the Bank of Israel.