No commercial goods are entering the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities said, attributing the suspension to local vendors they said are fed up with Hamas raising taxes on them JERUSALEM -- No commercial goods have entered the Gaza Strip for two days, Israeli authorities said Thursday, blaming the suspension on merchants angered by taxes imposed by Hamas — a claim that Palestinian importers deny. The halt to commercial shipments, including fruit and winter clothing, cuts off a key source of food and other critical supplies as fears grow about procuring supplies needed to get through winter in the territory. The move stands to immediately reduce Gaza's supplies, because the closed-off territory is completely reliant on whatever goods Israel allows in through border crossings.
Aid groups generally bring in staples such as flour, while merchants import more perishable foods like fruits and meat, according to data released earlier this year by COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza. The suspension is raising fears about affordability, with humanitarian workers saying a combination of aid and a robust commercial market is needed to keep prices under control. Its deputy spokesperson, Lt.
Daniel Kantorovich, said the agency was acting on a decision made by Palestinian merchants a day earlier and could reverse it at their behest. Most families in the war-battered enclave weren’t getting nearly enough to eat, said the report, adding that “even small disruptions to humanitarian access could rapidly reverse recent gains.” Merchants in Gaza coordinate directly with vendors outside the territory, whose shipments are examined by Israel's military before entering Gaza. In announcing the measure, COGAT claimed to be communicating a decision made by local merchants in Gaza who had grown tired of Hamas taxing their trucks and threatening them.
Israel has long accused the militant group of levying fees on imports to fund its operations. COGAT said no private-sector vendors had attempted to import goods to Gaza since the merchants alerted Israel on Tuesday. But the head of Gaza’s private truckers union, Nahed Sheheiber, disputed Israel's account, saying they were the ones who had made the decision.
The ministry had been asking merchants to pay 10,000 shekels (about $3,226) per truck entering Gaza, Sheheiber said. At the meeting, ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Raqab told the union that the amount was not a tax, but rather a donation sought by the ministry to help pay civil servants in the strip. It was not clear from the COGAT announcement if aid agencies would be allowed to increase shipments into Gaza to compensate for the loss in commercial goods.
The agency claimed that Gaza's population — of roughly 2 million people — required approximately 250 truckloads of goods each day. That's far below the minimum of 600 trucks a day stipulated by a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. a year ago. The war started when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, and took 251 hostages.
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