Saleh Abu Shamala is a 34-year-old Palestinian man who lives in London.Most of his family is in Gaza. Since the start of the war, his parents and younger siblings have relied on him to send them money for food, medicine and shelter.Saleh has spent more than $250,000 trying to keep them alive. The Cost of Survival in Gaza By Emma Goldberg and Emily Kassie June 8, 2026 Share full article51 Months after the cease-fire, Gaza’s economy remains strangled for Palestinians like Saleh’s family — in large part because of restrictions imposed by Israel. Early in the war, the Israeli government clamped down on trade to Gaza, selecting only a handful of Palestinian businesses to receive import permits. That decision severely limited competition; it led to a trade system in which merchants pay layers of steep fees to the chosen businesses for every truck that enters. The function of the fees, and who ultimately pockets them, is often unclear to those paying. “By the time it reaches Gaza, the cost is huge,” said Ruwa Jabr, chief executive of PalTrade, a Palestinian nonprofit. “A shipment that should cost 100 shekels ends up costing 20,000 shekels or more.” Israel’s long list of banned or restricted imports — including basic items like poultry, batteries and hygiene products — has also helped create a raging black market of smuggled goods sold at sky-high prices. A spokesman for COGAT, the Israeli security agency responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, told The Times that the restrictions were necessary to prevent Hamas and other “terrorist elements” from procuring goods or profiting from trade. This project was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.Merchants trying to import food have to navigate a process full of brokers, fee-charging middlemen and black-market profiteers, some of whom are in or have connections to the Israeli security services. Beginning in 2025, a shadowy figure with alleged ties to Israeli intelligence, who went by the code name Abu Basel, directed the transport of banned goods worth tens of millions of shekels through multiple border crossings, according to interviews with Gazan traders and an Israeli indictment of his associate Raghib Salim, obtained by The Times and first reported by Haaretz. The indictment details a sophisticated smuggling operation that brought in contraband like cigarettes and restricted goods like concrete, a bulldozer, beef and chicken. Abu Basel’s nationality is not specified, but the indictment describes him as having “numerous connections within the Israeli police” and warehousing goods in the Israeli settlement of Beit HaArava in the West Bank. The opaque wartime economy has had dire consequences for ordinary Gazans, according to documents and interviews with more than 80 truckers, merchants, brokers, business leaders, aid executives and former government officials. One kilogram of flour, enough to bake a couple of loaves of bread, used to cost about 50 cents in Gaza. During the war, it rose at least as high as $27. One kilo of eggs, once about $2.50, went up to $130. Cooking gas that had been $2 per kilogram climbed to $190. “Israel has used its control to create scarcity,” said Tania Hary, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Gisha. “I see that as a concerted strategy to keep the population dependent.” Money sent from family members abroad is often the only way many Gazans can afford food and other essential items. In his London apartment, Saleh sifted through bank statements and transfers, WhatsApp messages and photos and videos on his phone to document his family’s experience for The Times, as well as the financial toll on him. Over the last two years, he has emptied his savings, borrowed money from friends and started a GoFundMe campaign, but it hasn’t been enough. He is more than $125,000 in debt. Last year he quit his job as a server in a restaurant to focus on helping his family survive, estimating that he could earn more by raising money
Fuente: NYT — Ver nota original
