Security forces confiscate cash from Hamas official

A senior Hamas official today tried to sneak £434,000 into the Gaza Strip, hiding 500-euro bills in a white pouch tucked under his shirt in the first major cash smuggling attempt by an increasingly desperate Hamas government choked by Western economic sanctions.

Palestinian security forces confiscated the cash at the Egypt-Gaza border and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas’ main political rival, ordered a criminal investigation.