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Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Hamas' cash flow problem

Hamas gets plenty of money from Iran, but it is having a problem smuggling it into Gaza.

According to Asharq Al-awsat, Hamas employees have not yet been paid for the month of January. Apparently, Egypt has been much more vigilant at stopping money from being transferred over the Rafah border.

Hamas is denying any cash flow crisis, saying they are just distributing salaries in a different way.

Hamas has a $540 million annual budget, and 32,000 employees in Gaza. In addition, there are tens of thousands of PA employees who get paid to sit at home and do nothing.

58% of the PA budget goes to Gaza for these non-working employee salaries, fuel, and electricity.