The Gaza money pit

Here's how Bloomberg describes the broken economics of Gaza smuggling:

[...] about 4,000 Gazans who gave cash to middlemen and tunnel operators in 2008 as Israel blocked the overland passage of goods. Then Israeli warplanes bombed the tunnels before and during the Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 Gaza offensive and the investments collapsed.

Now investors, who lost as much as $500 million, want their money back from Hamas, which runs Gaza.

Do these numbers seem a little fishy to anyone? If only 4,000 people kicked in for the tunnels, $500 million -- $125,000 per person -- is an absurdly high figure. Bloomberg uses one of my favorite journalistic hedges, "as much as," which means the actual sum could be much lower (i.e. anywhere from $1 to $500 million).

Even if the entire Gaza Strip contributed, $500 million is still unrealistic. Gaza is home to about 1.5 million people. For Hamas to get to $500 million, every man, woman and child in Gaza would have to invest about $333. (And of course 45% of Gaza's population is under the age of 15, so that figure is low...)

Anyway, Hamas is offering repayment of 16.5 cents on the dollar.