Back in the days of the first and second Intifadas, we used to believe in something called resistance,” says “Othman.” “But today, the ‘resistance’ has become a business.” Every tobacco stand and coffee shop is forced to pay Hamas protection money, he says, and when war breaks out, “[Hamas] sit in their bunkers while we have to bear the brunt. And at the end they tell us it’s a victory.”

From its inception, Hamas has cultivated an image of incorruptibility. In 2006, its candidates ran successfully in Palestinian elections in Gaza under the motto “Reform and Change.” They promised “a new breed of Islamic leadership” that was “ready to put into practice faith-based principles in a setting of tolerance and unity,” and “pledged transparency in government.”

Instead, Hamas proceeded to build an economy based on patronage and political favoritism, exacting a heavy toll on essential services including healthcare and education. It then exploited Gaza’s isolation under closure to build and institutionalize a network of smuggling which it exclusively controlled. Five years after taking power, Hamas’s network of smuggling tunnels was transferring half a billion dollars in goods annually, and exacting “import duties” in excess of 14.5 per cent. As one smuggler put it, the choice is to pay Hamas “or get shot in the legs.” Meanwhile, despite Gazans’ impoverishment, Hamas Imposes a range of taxes to fund an opaque budget, even the purpose of which is secret. As an AP report observes, Hamas “offers few services in exchange [for these taxes], and most aid and relief projects are covered by the international community.”

Unsurprisingly, Palestinian opinion polling finds that 73 percent of Gazans believe Hamas-run institutions are corrupt.

When Hamas wages war, ordinary Gazans pay an even steeper price. As one young Gazan told the Financial Times, “When the Israelis came, Hamas went and hid in the tunnels, and left us outside.” A participant in the 2019 “We Want to Live” protest movement noted, “None of us young people actually voted for Hamas… [it] glorifies itself as the resistance to the occupation, but they sit in their palaces with their Qatari passports while we pay the price.