No commercial goods have moved into Gaza for two days, according to Israeli authorities, who attribute the stoppage to a financial dispute between local traders and Hamas. A notice issued on Wednesday by COGAT — the unit within the Israeli military that handles coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied territories — set out when the suspension would come into force.
According to COGAT, local traders withdrew from the market in response to two financial measures Hamas had put in place: a 10,000 shekel ($3,220) levy on every truck crossing into Gaza, along with a requirement that 30 percent of all in-territory sales be settled in cash.
The suspension is anticipated to affect a principal channel through which food and goods reach the roughly 2.1 million residents of the Strip — a population whose access to supplies runs entirely through border crossings controlled by Israel, in a territory where food shortages persist.
A Thursday statement from the Gaza government media office disputed the claims being circulated, characterising them as part of an organised effort to spread false information. According to the media office, the charge represented an effort to hold Gaza's governing apparatus accountable for disruptions to truck access, while the payment itself was described as a voluntary contribution to a fund directed at supporting people in need, including widows and orphans. Cash payments were promoted as a practical response to what the organisation characterised as a severe shortage of currency across the territory, and were not imposed as an obligation.
Commercial shipments — among them fruit and cold-weather clothing — have been suspended, removing a notable channel through which food and other goods had been reaching the area as winter approaches. Figures published by COGAT earlier this year draw a distinction between the two supply streams: humanitarian organisations tend to deliver non-perishable basics such as flour, whereas private traders cover more time-sensitive goods — fruits, meat, and similar produce.
Aid workers raised concerns about food affordability following the suspension, arguing that humanitarian assistance alone cannot address the full scope of population needs and that functioning commercial supply channels are equally necessary. Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council stated that markets must remain operational alongside the humanitarian sector.
Nahed Sheheiber, who heads Gaza's private truckers union, disputed the account put forward by COGAT, telling reporters that responsibility for the restrictions lay with Israeli authorities rather than with Gaza's merchants, as COGAT had indicated. After COGAT's announcement, Sheheiber's union convened with Gaza's Ministry of Economy to register its objections and to contend that fees collected by the ministry were being used as a stated justification for cutting off the flow of commercial goods into the territory.
An international food-security body issued an alert in July that roughly two in three residents of Gaza faced a risk of acute food shortages before the close of the year. Under a deal brokered by the United States, at least 600 truckloads of humanitarian supplies per day are committed to crossing into Gaza. According to diplomatic sources, the number of trucks passing into Gaza on a typical day has historically fallen well short of that figure. Sheheiber put the number at around 300, with roughly two in every three carrying commercial cargo.
