Months after a cease-fire, Gaza’s economy remains stifled, heavily impacted by restrictions from Israel. These restrictions have a profound effect on families like Saleh’s.

Trade Restrictions

At the conflict’s start, Israel limited trade access to Gaza. Few Palestinian businesses received import permits, severely restricting market competition. This resulted in high costs for merchants, who have to pay significant fees to those few permit holders.

“By the time it reaches Gaza, the cost is huge,”

stated Ruwa Jabr, CEO of PalTrade.

Israel restricts many imports, including basic goods like poultry and batteries, creating a thriving black market. The Israeli security agency states these measures prevent militant groups from accessing resources.

Impact on Everyday Life

Merchants face a complex network of brokers, middlemen, and profiteers. Among them, a mysterious figure associated with Israeli intelligence ran a substantial smuggling operation, detailed in a legal indictment.

Ordinary Gazans suffer acutely under these conditions. Basic food items have become prohibitively expensive. Flour, once affordable, soared to $27 per kg during the war.

A Family Coping

Saleh, in London, supports his family in Gaza. He shoulders debt exceeding $125,000, driven by efforts to send money back home. Pandemic and economic restrictiveness have pushed him to rely on online fundraising to help his family survive.

Communication with his family remains vital. Daily, Saleh talks with his brother Rashad, monitoring their parents’ condition and family finances from abroad.

A History of Struggles

Saleh, familiar with conflict, lost his sister Shaimaa at age ten to an Israeli tank shell. His path from Gaza to studying in British universities reflects years of family strife, political protests, and eventually, immigration to flee danger and pursue education.

Saleh’s story includes both personal growth and profound tragedy. He had to deal with the emotional and financial toll of supporting relatives in a wartime environment.

Navigating Restrictions

Before the conflict, Gaza’s economy operated under severe trade constraints. Israel’s early war actions resulted in even harsher restrictions, disrupting the flow of goods and increasing costs significantly.

Approved businesses, often chosen based on government connections, monopolized trade. This lack of competition allowed them to charge exorbitant fees.

Border and Trade Issues

The only way to move goods into Gaza was through specific routes controlled by contractors. This led to increased fees, with criticisms highlighting the non-transparent operations behind the trade systems.

An investigation uncovered prominent figures engaging in smuggling operations, revealing complex coordination between traders and Israeli security officials. Charges include war profiteering and corruption.

Aid and Professional Profiteering

During escalating tensions, Saleh’s family depended on organized efforts to move out. Commercial ventures emerged, offering evacuation services at high costs, sometimes backed by state-level support.

Rumors of dubious schemes and insufficient aid characterized the wartime climate, highlighting difficulties in relocating to safety zones.

Medical Shortages

Supply shortages extended to healthcare. Saleh’s family struggled with obtaining essential medical supplies for his ailing father. War conditions severely restricted resources.

Family Loss and Resilience

Saleh’s brother Raji died in an airstrike, a devastating blow to the family. Despite immense financial and personal costs, Saleh continues enduring hardships to sustain support for his family.

The Economics of War

After the cease-fire, economic constraints remain. While some efforts resume trade, restrictions still limit market access, complicating recovery for ordinary Palestinians.

Despite changes in policy, continued lack of transparency and market manipulation by connected insiders reveals an environment rife with inequality.

Personal Reflections

Saleh remembers building robots as a student. His experience abroad contrasts starkly with the harsh reality of life in Gaza for his family.

He carries the weight of dual hardships—supporting family in crisis while bearing witness to the unfolding tragedy from afar. In a London garden, he feels echoes of home in the vines he tends, a reminder of the life once lived in Rafah.