Hamas’s network of support

October 17, 2023 - Hamas is one of the wealthiest terrorist groups in the world, with an annual turnover estimated at $700 million, flowing in from taxes, financial aid and donations from regional powers.

Related Graphics

View More

U.S. charges Hamas leaders over Oct 7 attack on Israel

Protests hit Israel after six hostages killed in Gaza

Israeli military launches major West Bank operation

Middle East flights suspended

Carriers move overflights from Iran to Afghanistan

Fear of fam­ine rises in Gaza

U.S. pushes for Gaza ceasefire as death toll climbs

U.S. boosts Mideast presence as Israel braces for attacks

Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”

Israel orders more Gaza evacuations after school shelter attack

Hamas leadership after Haniyeh assassination

Israel’s targeted killings

Israel says it killed senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut

Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran

Israel vows response to attack on Golan

How the Gaza pier unravelled

Dozens killed in Israel’s new offensive on Khan Younis

Tel Aviv drone attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthis

Support for democracy in Africa

Israel and Hezbollah on edge of war

Cyprus-Turkey tensions persist

Israel says Hamas commander killed in southern Gaza

Gaza war could escalate to Lebanon

Deadly attacks in Russia’s Dagestan

Lawlessness blocks the Gaza aid route

Unity government deal reached in South Africa

Israel war cabinet members quit

What’s in Biden's 3-phase plan to end the war in Gaza?

South Africa's ANC on course to lose majority

Israel claims control of Gaza’s entire land border

Following Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, countries and organisations that support the Palestinian Islamist movement are under scrutiny.

Economic, military and ideological support for Hamas comes from regional powers Qatar, Iran and Turkey. Qatar’s financial support of more than $350 million supports infrastructure and families in extreme poverty in the Gaza Strip, which has a 45.3% jobless rate.

“These payments are justified to pay civil servants in Gaza, and we know perfectly well that the latter are members of Hamas,” Didier Billion, deputy director of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), told France 24.

Qatar’s links with Hamas are not only financial but also political. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has resided mainly in Doha since 2012.

Iran also maintains close ties with Hamas. Tehran more generally finances all Palestinian armed groups to $100 million per year, according to a report by the U.S. State Department published in 2020.

Turkey provides political support rather than financial or military aid.

Following days of contradictory messaging, the European Union reversed a decision by Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi to block €691 million in development aid to the Palestinians. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced increased humanitarian aid to Gaza to €75m.