A new policy paper from the Hudson Institute argues that any large-scale reconstruction effort in Gaza will require a digital payments backbone, and that biometric identity verification should be treated as a core control mechanism rather than an optional add-on. The authors contend that without credible identity checks tied to wallet access, cash assistance and digital transfers alike will remain vulnerable to diversion and informal taxation by armed groups.
Titled Deploying Digital Wallets in Gaza: An Exploratory Framework to Inform US and Israeli Policy Debate and authored by Zineb Riboua and Noah Firestone, the paper positions digital wallets as a substitute for a fragile pre-war financial system that it argues cannot scale to support reconstruction. The report notes that wallet usage has already expanded during the conflict, pointing to growth in balances from roughly $40 million in January 2025 to more than $115 million by June 2025, and estimating more than 790,000 active users. One wallet platform, iBURAQ, is cited as having processed $550 million in transactions over that period.
The Hudson Institute framing is explicitly governance-oriented. It emphasizes that Gaza’s divided authority structure, including Hamas’ de facto control in parts of the territory, creates a design constraint for any payments infrastructure that intends to channel reconstruction funds. The paper argues that a biometric identity layer would be necessary to prevent the wallet rail from being co-opted, and to ensure transfers can be directed to civilian recipients with auditable controls.
The proposal lands in a technology space that has been tested elsewhere in humanitarian contexts. ID Tech previously covered a case where biometric aid systems became a bottleneck, leaving Rohingya refugees without food support in Bangladesh when access conditions and identity gating collided. In another approach, the Spanish Red Cross-backed RedChain project has promoted auditability tools to track humanitarian aid flows.
For Mobile ID World readers, the main news value is that a major US think tank is now arguing for identity tech, including biometrics, as an enabling component of reconstruction finance. The paper does not recommend a specific biometric modality or name vendors. Instead, it focuses on the policy logic: a digital wallet system without strong identity verification would replicate the same diversion and trust failures that have historically plagued cash-based aid delivery.
Sources: Hudson Institute, PDF
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By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
