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Charge No.9: Extortion and Racketeering <br />Hamas is charged with extortion and racketeering on (lie pretext of taxes. According to <br />Palestinian polling, 69 percent of Palestinians believe Hamas institutions are corrupt.ln <br />2019, after Harnas imposed a series of new taxes, thousands of Gazans took to the streets <br />in protest under the slogan "We want to live". As one protester put it, "dozens of Hamas <br />officials have grown their wealth through financial corruption" while "draining our people <br />by imposing more taxes [and] ignoring [our] poverty". Meanwhile, according to the U.S. <br />Treasury, the group has amassed over $500 million in a secret investment portfolio. Hamas <br />is willing to go to great lengths to squelch accusations of financial impropriety, reportedly <br />executing officials so accused in secret. (16) <br />Charge No.10: Theft of International Aid <br />Hamas is charged with the theft of international aid. The international community <br />seat billions of dollars in aid to the Gaza Strip between 2014 - 2020. UN agencies <br />have spent nearly $4,5 billion in Gaza since 2012, and Qatar has provided an <br />additional $1.3 billion in aid. Despite all that money, the people of Gaza live at the <br />level of subsistence, because those who distribute the aid are the followers of <br />Hamas. <br />In 2009, the United Nations was forced to stop aid provided to the people of Gaza <br />after gunmen affiliated with Hamas stole hundreds of tons of flour, blankets, and <br />other miscellaneous aid. <br />The official spokesman for UNRWA said (They were armed, and we were <br />unarmed), referring to Mamas's threat to UN employees who do not carry arms, and <br />whose tasks are purely humanitarian and relief tasks. (1.7) <br />