Experts said it is unclear if the cash brokers’ activities benefit Hamas, as some Israeli analysts claim.

The war has made it more difficult to determine who is behind all sorts of economic activity in the territory, said Omar Shabaan, director of Palthink for Strategic Studies, a Gaza-based think tank.

“It’s a dark place now. You don’t know who is bringing cigarettes into Gaza,” he said, giving just one example. “It’s like a mafia.”

The UN has reported on Aid trucks regularly being looted by the Abu Shabab gang. A group of lowlife criminals, who are armed and supported by Israel to wreak further havoc in Gaza and exploit the population further. In one of their largest raids, they robbed and burnt almost a hundred UN trucks for Israel in November 2024. I wouldn’t be surprised if Israel is funneling fresh cash to such criminal elements to further strengthen them and extract money from the people of Gaza through a middlemen allowing them plausible deniability. Note that the Abu Shabab criminals also have ties to ISIS. As Israel had consistently accused Hamas of “being ISIS” this shows once again that every Israeli accusation is a projection.