Iran has long been Hamas’ primary financial backer. A 2020 report from the US State Department put Tehran’s support for Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, at about $100 million a year. But the group uses a number of tools to raise funds, including bringing cash across the border from Egypt – and cryptocurrency. The Wall Street Journal reports that crypto wallets linked to Hamas received about $41 million between August 2021 and June this year, according to research by a Tel Aviv-based crypto analytics firm, although it’s unclear if the funds raised were directly used to finance Saturday’s assault. Israeli police said on Tuesday they had frozen a number of crypto accounts used by Hamas to request donations on social networks.
