Hamas spends some 20% of its budget, over $100 million a year, on the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, according to estimates by both Israeli and Palestinian sources.
Spending on digging tunnels accounts for $40 million of that annual sum.
Some 1,500 Hamas members are currently employed in tunnel digging.
Hamas has been investing in weapons that could bypass Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system and in more precise rockets.
As part of this effort, Hamas has allocated tremendous resources to smuggling materials into the Strip that can be used for building weapons, mostly from Israel, but also by sea or through smuggling tunnels from Sinai.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
