Another organisation on which Gazans depend is Hamas, whose administrative branch runs the strip’s government.Since it took power, Hamas has expanded the public payroll from roughly 20,000 to 50,000 civil servants.Last year its spending contributed 0.8% to GDP growth, compared with 0.3% from all household and business spending.As charities run so many of the strip’s schools and hospitals, and the PA keeps the lights on, Hamas is able to spend lavishly elsewhere.It finances its spending with an adroit tax system.Though Gaza gets no imports from Israel, it does get them from Egypt, from which trade had recently increased, and the West Bank.Hamas taxes food and fuel crossing the Egyptian border; picks up 16.5% of the value of products from baby food to jeans; charges three shekels ($0.75) per kilo of fish caught by fishermen; and levies income tax.Altogether economists reckon that Hamas may take in somewhere in the region of 1.5bn shekels a year.Other sources of finance are already in Israel’s sights.Gaza’s various Islamist groups receive maybe $100m a year from Iran, according to America’s best guess.Hamas also receives individual donations from the Gulf and the West, some of which are furtively transferred across borders using cryptocurrencies.
