(NewsNation) — While the people of Gaza are struggling for food, water and medical care, Hamas’ wealthy leadership lives luxuriously in Qatar, according to Israeli officials.
The terrorist group has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 after winning parliamentary elections and violently seizing control from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
Now, its top three leaders are worth over $11 billion together, according to reports confirmed by the U.S. Treasury.
While there is a web of men who lead the terror organization, Abu Marzouk, Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh are the primary heads, each worth billions. Haniyeh, the “prime minister,” does not live in Gaza and allegedly flies between Turkey and Qatar in a private jet.
The terrorist group launched an attack on Israeli civilians Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people and abducting an estimated 230. Since then, Israeli forces have launched relentless airstrikes on Gaza, leveling communities and leaving thousands desperate for humanitarian aid, which is trickling in slowly.
A recent social media post by Israel’s Embassy in the U.S. estimates Hamas has a turnover of $1 billion.
These terror leaders reportedly funnel funds to support their luxurious lives in the sanctuary of the emirate of Qatar, a far cry from the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The Israeli Embassy in the U.S. claims Hamas is the second wealthiest terror group after ISIS, as reports indicate its cash flow comes from global assistance, taxing goods through its network of tunnels and big donors like Iran and Turkey.
“Hamas over the years has made sure that it has several overlapping income streams, so that if you pressure one of them, it can substitute it with others,” said Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project. “Hamas is not yet classified as a terror organization in many countries of the world, so they can skeet around jurisdictions that don’t have counter-terrorism financing laws against them.”
Hamas was founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian refugee living in Gaza, during the first intifada, or uprising, which was marked by widespread protests against Israel’s occupation.
Yassin — a paralyzed man who used a wheelchair — spent years in Israeli prisons and oversaw the establishment of Hamas’ military wing, which carried out its first suicide attack in 1993. He was killed in 2004 by Israeli forces.
Mashaal, an exiled Hamas member who survived a previous Israeli assassination attempt, became the group’s leader soon after.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas’ co-founder, condemned the group as “barbaric” in a conversation with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo.
“We’re talking about (an) organization that does not regard human life,” Yousef told NewsNation. “This is not their first war against Israel. We have previous wars where (Hamas) initiated the war against Israel and the world and the global public bent so fast, and we begged for a cease-fire in the past three wars against Hamas, and Israel had to submit to the public opinion, and we did not finish them in the previous three wars. Every time, they came back stronger.”
Marzuk, one of the prominent Hamas leaders, released a video last week saying since most of the population in Gaza are refugees, it is the UN’s responsibility to protect them.
Marzuk’s net worth is an estimated $3 billion.
Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles is now sponsoring legislation that would remove Qatar as a U.S. ally unless it exiles Hamas leadership from the country.