Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
A shortage of currency in Gaza is pushing thousands of families deeper into poverty, as retailers increasingly demand payment in cash and residents are forced to pay high fees to black market operators to convert funds in online accounts into banknotes.
Bank branches in the territory are no longer functioning after more than 20 months of war between Hamas and Israel military that has devastated the Palestinian territory and displaced most of its population.
Essential goods such as food and medicine are scarce after nearly two months of an Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid, pushing prices beyond the reach of most residents even when they are available.
“For the past two months, cash has all but disappeared,” Mohammed Al Haddad, 39, a resident of Gaza city, told The National. “If I want to get 1,000 shekels ($287) in cash, I have to transfer 1,800 shekels. That’s nearly half my money gone before I even buy food.”
Mr Al Haddad, as a government employee, still receives a salary from the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, even though Hamas has run Gaza since it seized control of the territory in 2007.
Mr Al Haddad is paid through online bank transfer, but cannot pay for goods digitally because banks in Gaza suspended a widely used payment app after several hacking attempts. In any case, most shops no longer accept such payments.
He believes the aid blockade and shortage of currency – the Israeli shekel is used in both Gaza and West Bank – is part of Israel’s war strategy. “It’s as if the occupation wants to create a new crisis, an economic collapse driven by cash shortages and rising hunger,” he said.
Murid Al Mabhouh, 30, who was displaced from his home in Jabalia Camp to Gaza city, said the situation was “suffocating”.
“We’re under siege, under bombardment, living through famine, and we have to pay 40 per cent just to withdraw the little money we have.”
Mr Al Mabhouh said people had no choice but to pay the high commissions charged by black market currency traders. “There are no functioning banks, no official oversight, and the authorities are silent. It’s not just exploitation, it’s injustice on top of injustice,” he said.
“The money we’re trying to access is for food, medicine, and paying off debts. Now we lose nearly half of it to commission traders getting rich off our suffering.”
Mr Al Haddad said videos posted on social media showed that traders were able to import some goods in recent days, but “it’s all non-essential – instant noodles, snacks, breadcrumbs”.
“And everything is cash only, at outrageous prices,” he said.
Amid the outcry, Gaza’s Chamber of Commerce has accused some traders in Gaza of working with suspicious actors to obtain Israeli permits to import non-essential goods.
“These permits are being sold for hundreds of thousands of shekels for a single truckload of items that people don’t even need,” said Aed Abu Ramadan, director of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture in Gaza, told The National. “This is unacceptable. It violates both commercial and national ethics.”
He said that such practices are draining the last of the population’s cash, pushing families to the brink while enriching a handful of traders. “We’ve urged merchants not to engage in these deals. They drive prices up, increase suffering, destabilise the market, and destroy any hope for fair competition.”
Mr Abu Ramadan called for immediate oversight by Gaza's authorities and co-operation with official agencies to prevent further economic manipulation. “People are already crushed. We must not let profiteering deepen this humanitarian catastrophe.”
With inflation spiralling, cash inaccessible, and markets flooded with overpriced, non-essential items, Gaza’s families are left with shrinking options. As financial lifelines disappear, aid dependency increases, and with it, fears of long-term economic and political manipulation.
“This isn’t just about money,” Mr Al Haddad said. “It’s about dignity. About whether we’ll ever live normal lives again, or just survive, one overpriced bag of rice at a time.”
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Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Going grey? A stylist's advice
If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
“Get professional help – there’s no other way to go around it,” she says. “And don’t just let it grow out because that looks really bad. Put effort into it: properly condition, straighten, get regular trims, make sure it’s glossy.”
LIKELY TEAMS
South Africa
Faf du Plessis (captain), Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Lungi Ngidi.
India (from)
Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wkt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Read more about the coronavirus
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
