GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Counterfeit money is spreading in Gaza. On July 11, in a first in the besieged enclave, the Gaza police raided a large factory printing fake money in Gaza City. The police had previously arrested small networks of banknote forgers.

In a press release that day, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Gaza, Brig. Gen. Hossam Shahwan, said, “We raided a banknote-counterfeiting factory in Gaza City based on information received by the CID’s Central Operations Department. The CID seized sophisticated equipment and a modern banknote printer in addition to large amounts of high-quality counterfeit banknotes.”

He said that it was the first time that the CID has seized such advanced forgery equipment in Gaza.

Fake banknotes have been spreading in the Gaza Strip. “In light of the deteriorating economic situation and the high rates of poverty and unemployment, criminals are seeking to secure financial resources through various fraudulent means,” Seif Eddin Audi, an assistant professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, told Al-Monitor. “Some find counterfeiting banknotes an easy way to make illicit money.”