Palestinians: Hamas using the ill to smuggle funds and weapons into Gaza
RAMALLAH Ñ The Palestinian Authority has determined that Hamas was
using certified patients to smuggle weapons and funds from abroad to the
West Bank.
PA officials said Hamas was using women and the ill to cross Israeli
military checkpoints in the West Bank and transfer money for the purchase of
weapons and other military equipment, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the ill had been granted
special permits to quickly cross Israeli checkpoints.
"Hamas is using women and the sick to transfer money illegally," Nablus
Gov. Jamal Muhaysin said.
Muhaysin said PA security forces have obtained evidence of Hamas's use
of women and the ill to transfer funds to Islamic operatives. He said the PA
confiscated documents that detailed the transfer of 38,000 Jordanian dinar,
or more than $50,000, for Hamas weapons.
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"Hamas uses women and the sick to transfer money illegally," the
official PA daily Al Hayat Al Jadida said on June 14. "[PA] security
services arrested six Hamas members and confiscated more than a million euro
that was in their possession."
The officials said the Hamas money was channeled from the Gulf through
Jordan and into the West Bank. They said women and people with Israeli
permits served as couriers.
The PA determination echoed a previous assessment by the Israeli
military. The military has long asserted that Hamas and Fatah insurgents
transported weapons through children, women and ambulances.
