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Members of the Hamas-led Executive Force attending the funeral of their colleague Ali Mattar in Gaza last month. (Reuters)
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Hamas pays Gaza Strip security forces with cash-filled suitcases
By Reuters and Haaretz Service

Hamas paid thousands of Gaza security officials on Friday by dishing out cash from suitcases in order to circumvent banks which Israel is pressuring to shun Hamas, a senior finance ministry official said.

The official said Hamas planned to pay some 20,000 security troops and civil servants their September salaries from suitcases full of shekels, which are still used in the territory.

"We do not want to embarrass the banks and we do not want to allow the Americans and others to undermine these banks," he said.

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Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after it routed Fatah, prompting Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to sack the Hamas-led government and appoint a Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank.

Israel and Western powers have tried to block funds from reaching Hamas through the Palestinian and international banking system as part of a policy to support Abbas and isolate Hamas.

The Hamas official said the group was paying at least 10,000 Hamas security officials on Friday at police stations and security posts. The remaining 10,000 civil servants would be paid in cash on Sunday and Monday at the Post Office, which is run by Hamas' telecommunications ministry.

A top Palestine Islamic Bank official said any accounts opened by militants at branches in the Gaza Strip have already been closed despite threats from Hamas. Bank officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Israel's largest commercial bank, Bank Hapoalim said last month a decision by Israel to brand Gaza an "enemy entity" prompted it to start severing links to the territory.

Regulators say other banks could follow suit.

"I received my salary from a suitcase, we did not have to stand in lines at banks," said one member of Hamas' Executive Force.

The finance ministry official said Hamas would pay NIS 33 to 35 million in salaries this month, which it said came from local revenues.

Israeli officials believe that despite an international boycott and pressure on local banks, Hamas brings Gaza tens of millions of dollars each month into Gaza via pro-Hamas businesses, cross-border tunnels and by sea.

Israel has tightened a blockade on imports and exports from Gaza since Hamas seized control in June, virtually freezing economic activity in the impoverished coastal enclave. Western powers are also boycotting the territory.

The Palestine Monetary Authority said this week some Palestinian banks could be forced to shut their Gaza branches by the end of the year, fearing the supply of shekels used in the Palestinian territories could start running out next month.



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  1.   Let them print their own money 15:14  |  Jasmine Murphy 05/10/07
  2.   Does Hamas use Gucci Luggage 15:21  |  Kipperraes 05/10/07
  3.   Hamas will find a way despite the best efforts of the u.s.-israel 16:14  |  lakshmi 05/10/07
  4.   Palestinian State 16:36  |  William 05/10/07
  5.   Very good start 16:37  |  Chick 05/10/07
  6.   Poor Danny Rubinstein of "Haaretz",it`d be difficult for him now 17:14  |  Absolute Sweden 05/10/07
  7.   let them print to no 1. 17:27  |  DANNY. 05/10/07
  8.   And yet average Gazans get nothing 17:42  |  William (not#4) 05/10/07
  9.   To William in San Antonio 17:48  |  Stan 05/10/07
  10.   How easily we laugh at the image 17:51  |  Outsider 05/10/07
  11.   #4 William, Palestinian state 18:01  |  Ahmed 05/10/07
  12.   Hamas 18:28  |  Joseph (Lebanese) 05/10/07
  13.   lakshmi 18:30  |  Joseph (Lebanese) 05/10/07
  14.   Ahmed#11 - living in the past 18:38  |  William (not#4) 05/10/07
  15.   11Ahmed,well said,it was the zionists` intention from day one,i.e 19:21  |  lakshmi 05/10/07
  16.   swallow your pride 19:49  |  real vision 05/10/07
  17.   Palestinian taxes 19:50  |  Palestinian Brit 05/10/07
  18.   Lakshmi = Moron 19:56  |  Mark 05/10/07
  19.   Ahmed 20:05  |  ooooooh scared 05/10/07
  20.   "I received my salary from a suitcase" 20:13  |  Michael Korn 05/10/07
  21.   @William 20:18  |  Leona 05/10/07
  22.   Hamas has the last laugh - again! 20:18  |  Palestinian Brit 05/10/07
  23.   Ahmed #11 Obviously brainwashed 20:33  |  Rudy 05/10/07
  24.   16Palestinian Brit,abbas was there when oslo was signed,he is 21:24  |  lakshmi 05/10/07
  25.   They don`t recognize Israel... 21:43  |  Nemesis 05/10/07
  26.   PalBrit 21:46  |  Israeli 05/10/07
  27.   Olmert is preventing The IDF from rooting out Hamas 22:24  |  Pavel 05/10/07
  28.   A comedy of errors by Fatah, if it wasn`t so serious 22:38  |  maoriboy 05/10/07
  29.   #8 William 23:27  |  maoriboy 05/10/07
  30.   What? No Credit? 23:38  |  Jeff Northridge 05/10/07
  31.   Palestinian Brit#16 - Have you ever really researched this? 23:58  |  William 05/10/07
  32.   stupidity and inflation!!! eating away those salaries 01:31  |  Igor D. 06/10/07
  33.   Palestinian Brit 22 01:42  |  ChanahS 06/10/07
  34.   Behold, the Caliphate 01:43  |  Existential 06/10/07
  35.   28Maoriboy,good metaphor Hamas has more arrows in their quiver! 02:18  |  lakshmi 06/10/07
  36.   31William instead of fulminating against the Palestinians how 02:30  |  lakshmi 06/10/07
  37.   Hamas Preferring Shekels To Toman? 02:34  |  Lavi 06/10/07
  38.   cash-filled suitcases 02:38  |  Shmuelshachor 06/10/07
  39.   You have to admit... 03:59  |  Maureen Ann 06/10/07
  40.   #39..Maureen Ann 04:30  |  Nemesis 06/10/07
  41.   #39, Maureen Ann... 07:15  |  Silvienne 06/10/07
  42.   #40 Nemisis. God is watching. 07:21  |  Maureen Ann 06/10/07
  43.   Gaza water - 31 07:38  |  Palestinian Brit 06/10/07
  44.   I disagree with Maureen Ann 08:00  |  Existential 06/10/07
  45.   Preferring shekels? 08:53  |  Palestinian Brit 06/10/07
  46.   Silvienne 09:07  |  Existential 06/10/07
  47.   bravo Hamas 10:18  |  basha 06/10/07
  48.   Palestinian Brit: We`ve Been Anxiously Waiting About 60 Years .. 10:19  |  Lavi 06/10/07
  49.   The Palestinians kowtow to their leaders 11:18  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 06/10/07
  50.   don`t be amazed Jasmine 13:00  |  Ismail 06/10/07
  51.   Israeli impotence shown again 13:03  |  Tim 06/10/07
  52.   Ismail 14:56  |  Jasmine Murphy 06/10/07
  53.   Palestinian Brit on currency 16:22  |  Stan 06/10/07
  54.   hamas will grow stronger despite embargo 16:28  |  hussein 06/10/07
  55.   ahmed,don`t be so dramatic,if israel wanted to,they would 16:33  |  terrornator 06/10/07
  56.   Sewage 16:54  |  William 06/10/07
  57.   Maoriboy#29 - Ask the Egyptians 17:03  |  William 06/10/07
  58.   Lakshmi#36 - did you actually read the resolutions? 17:10  |  William 06/10/07
  59.   Ismail#50 - you can`t print currency without a govt 17:15  |  William 06/10/07
  60.   Pal Brit#43 - read the accord wrong, again 17:21  |  William 06/10/07
  61.   Once you`re into it, it`s as uncontrollable as nail-biting... 17:36  |  Esther 06/10/07
  62.   51Tim,about that unstoppable human spirit,if you go to Maan News 17:57  |  lakshmi 06/10/07
  63.   Lakshmi where are you living? 18:15  |  MF 06/10/07
  64.   # 13 Joseph re lakshmi 18:27  |  Lynn 06/10/07
  65.   # 22 Pal Brit 18:30  |  Lynn 06/10/07
  66.   # 11 Ahmed 18:36  |  Lynn 06/10/07
  67.   # 51 Impotence and Tim 18:39  |  Lynn 06/10/07
  68.   55William,so you don`t have any stats. to counter the ones I 19:12  |  lakshmi 06/10/07
  69.   Water - William 19:26  |  Palestinian Brit 06/10/07
  70.   Lynn - no not forever 19:31  |  Palestinain Brit 06/10/07
  71.   #59 lakshmi 19:39  |  tired of the lies 06/10/07
  72.   #52 hussein 21:31  |  tired of the lies 06/10/07
  73.   If your so independent and proud 22:17  |  Omar 06/10/07
  74.   #54 William 23:33  |  maoriboy 06/10/07
  75.   shekels running out!... 01:15  |  akiva (zionist) 07/10/07
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