Where The Money Goes In Gaza

There was a flurry of military action in Gaza earlier today.  First, Islamic Jihad fired dozens of mortars at Israeli communities near Gaza.  Most of the mortar shells were shot down by the Israelis' Iron Dome system, but a few got through.  The result was five Israelis were wounded.  This was the biggest attack from Gaza since the 2014 major hostilities.  The Israelis hit weapons depots, military installations and tunnels from Gaza into Israel.  It's this last item that needs some further discussion.  The tunnel that was destroyed was over 1.5 miles long.  It went from southern Gaza under the border with Egypt, under Egyptian territory, under the Egypt/Israel border and about half a mile into Israel itself.  This was no makeshift tunnel, but a major concrete installation as you can see from the picture below:

The Hamas tunnel running under Kerem Shalom was used for both smuggling and terrorism (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

 

The tunnel was built to last.  It had to have cost millions of dollars to construct, just for the concrete used alone.  Some estimates put the total cost of the tunnel as built by Hamas at over $20 million dollars.

 

Think for a moment where Hamas got the cash for the tunnel and what else could have been done with that money.  We hear in the media constantly about the terrible living conditions in Gaza.  The reports are somewhat exaggerated, but there is no question that there are a great many people in need who live in the territory.  Twenty million dollars could have fed, clothed and housed a large number of those in need.  Instead, Hamas diverted this money into construction of a tunnel that has only one purpose:  to deposit terrorists into Israeli territory so that they could attack the Israelis living there.  The tunnel would not change the strategic balance between Hamas and Israel.  The Israeli forces could still defeat Hamas in any battle.  The tunnel was just to be able to carry out terrorist attacks inside Israel.

 

It's important to understand that the almost certain source for the money that paid for the tunnel is the many millions of dollars in aid that Hamas gets in Gaza from foreign countries and the UN.  The countries that are donating aid to Gaza are not doing so to finance terror tunnels.  The use of the funds for such construction is done through the secret diversion of aid funds for this purpose.

 

Of course, the tunnel and the tens of millions it cost have now gone down the drain. The Israelis destroyed all entrances to the tunnel and are blowing up the underground portions inside Israel and Egypt as this is being written.  Hamas has just wasted tens of millions of dollars for a useless terror tunnel rather than seeing to it that Gaza residents were fed and housed.