In a dimly lit room with mouldy walls, Mahmoud carefully unwraps layers of tin foil to reveal a red pill. He presses his thumbnail into the coating to split the capsule, revealing a white powder laced with crystals that shimmer in the sparse light.
In the 35-year-old Palestinian’s palm rests a powerful dose of tramadol, a synthetic opioid painkiller that has become the drug of choice in Gaza.
“It numbs the pain,” Mahmoud says of the drug’s effect.
The number 225 is impressed on to the pill in his hand, denoting its strength. At 225 milligrams, it is almost five times stronger than the lowest dose available in the coastal enclave where economic hardship and hopelessness translate into rampant substance abuse.
It is an epidemic that threatens to render a generation of Gazans dependent upon prescription pills that can be as powerful as morphine. Living in what they describe as an open-air prison, Gazans have seen their fortunes decline, with little hope of a reversal. This desperation has fuelled drug abuse.
“Drug use is much worse now,” Mahmoud says. “It's directly linked to the situation: the worse it gets, the more drug abuse there is.”
Israel and Egypt have hermetically sealed Gaza from the outside world since Hamas won elections here in 2006. The blockage has crushed the local economy, driving unemployment up to 44 per cent and pushing 53 per cent of residents below the poverty line. Crumbling infrastructure has been battered by the Israeli military, which has waged three wars with Hamas in just over a decade.
Addiction remains a taboo topic in Gaza's conservative society. The subject is so sensitive that Mahmoud declines to give his real name. This concealment makes it difficult for users to seek help. They can expect little to no assistance from the Gazan health system, which is under severe strain from the blockade.
Mahmoud lives in a decrepit apartment block on the edge of Gaza city with his wife and five children. He first started taking tramadol after he was shot in the torso during the Second Intifada, or uprising, in 2000. Doctors prescribed him the drug and he took it to combat the pain from a bullet splinter that had moved close to his spine. He laid off the drug when the pain subsided.
But he then lost his house and the family business went up in flames during the fighting between Hamas and Fatah in 2006. Around that time, tunnels were dug all along the Egyptian border to get around the blockade. Alongside goods of all kinds, drugs like tramadol were being smuggled through the tunnels. That’s when drug abuse began to spike in Gaza.
“Tunnel operators would give the kids digging the tunnels tramadol. They were the first to get addicted. Digging tunnels is hard work and dangerous,” says Mahmoud. He too began to take the drug again – this time without a doctor's prescription. It lifted his anxiety and boosted his stamina. Using the pill, he spent countless hours ferrying materials from Egypt to Gaza through the tunnels as he rebuilt his business.
“It kills any kind of exhaustion. You have the energy to do anything,” he says.
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Read more
UN General Assembly blames Israel for Gaza violence
UN inquiry approved into killing of Palestinians at Gaza fence
Arab League demands international probe into Israeli crimes
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Egypt has since cracked down on the tunnels, and Hamas has tried to rein-in the drugs trade. But the flow of tramadol across the border has not abated. Abuse rates are particularly high among the young. Two-thirds of young people are unemployed, and even a university degree is little help in finding a job.
“I have about twenty college friends who are Tramadol users,” says Abdullah, a 26-year-old unemployed university graduate who also declines to use his real name. “Every time I hang out with friends, I get offered a pill.”
Gazans looking to get high on smuggled tramadol can buy a 225mg pill for 15 shekels (about $4). The same pill costs only three shekels before being smuggled into Gaza through the few tunnels that remain. Long-time addicts take more than one pill a day. In impoverished Gaza, where the average monthly salary in 2014 was $139, tramadol is an expensive habit.
Despite the cost, many Gazans turn to the drug to escape their dismal reality.
“When you are addicted you stop thinking about your future,” says Dr Ibrahim Rabie, who works at a psychiatric clinic run by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. “[Drugs are the] only thing that can make you stop thinking about the situation you are in, and the only drug you can get is tramadol.”
Dr Rabie's workplace is the only government institution that caters for drug abusers. The rundown cluster of buildings in Gaza City hosts 12 beds for addicts, who spend three weeks to a month in the facility to wean themselves off of the drug and its addictive effects. There are no funds for specialised equipment or for follow-up treatment, and relapse rates are high. Given the scale of drug use in Gaza, the impact of the government response is minimal.
“The clinic is not big enough to deal with the problem,” Dr Rabie admits.
Most of the patients are between 22 and 28 years old, the doctor says.
Apart from the clinic, a few private institutions offer treatment and counselling. But many addicts are afraid to seek help, afraid of the social stigma attached to drug use and psychological issues.
"Because of the culture here, it's difficult to present your suffering as a psychological problem," says Hassan Zeyada, a psychologist at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, an NGO that runs a hotline for drug users.
The persistent threat of violence heightens the existential fears of Gaza’s 1.8 million inhabitants who live in economic deprivation, producing high levels of trauma. The last war in 2014 cost the lives of more than 2,100 Palestinians and wounded tens of thousands more.
“The correlation between trauma and addiction is very high. People use drugs to alleviate their suffering, and gradually they become dependent,” Dr Zeyada says.
According to Unicef, the UN agency responsible for children, 250,000 Gazan minors are in need of treatment from trauma inflicted during the seven-week war. Adults are also affected but, rather than seeking therapy, they visit regular doctors to deal with side effects like headaches. They are then prescribed painkillers such as tramadol, setting off a spiral of addiction.
Constant worry and constraints have also found their way into the bedroom, Mahmoud says. Weighed down by their grievances, many Gazan men are struggling to perform in bed. They are instead turning to tramadol to boost their sex drive. Mahmoud claims to have stopped taking the pill regularly, but admits that he uses it before intercourse.
“The hardships that you go through, it affects your wellbeing. In our traditional society, you are expected to satisfy your wife,” he says. “But if your cousin is being killed or your shop is being bombed, how can you perform? In our situation, unless you have something to help you, you can't do that.”
Looking at the pill that rests in his hand, Mahmoud illustrates the power of the drug taking a hold of Gaza’s anguished youth.
“I don't have a single shekel in my home,” he says. “But I have this.”
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
BLACKBERRY
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In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The biog
Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi
Favourite TV show: That 70s Show
Favourite animal: Ferrets, they are smart, sensitive, playful and loving
Favourite holiday destination: Seychelles, my resolution for 2020 is to visit as many spiritual retreats and animal shelters across the world as I can
Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home
Favourite dog breed: I love them all - if I had to pick Yorkshire terrier for small dogs and St Bernard's for big
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Remaining fixtures
Third-place-play-off: Portugal v Mexico, 4pm on Sunday
Final: Chile v Germany, 10pm on Sunday
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
It
Director: Andres Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Three stars
The specs: 2018 GMC Terrain
Price, base / as tested: Dh94,600 / Dh159,700
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 353Nm @ 2,500rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.4L / 100km
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Company%C2%A0profile
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Slow loris biog
From: Lonely Loris is a Sunda slow loris, one of nine species of the animal native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
Status: Critically endangered, and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list due to growing demand in the global exotic pet trade. It is one of the most popular primate species found at Indonesian pet markets
Likes: Sleeping, which they do for up to 18 hours a day. When they are awake, they like to eat fruit, insects, small birds and reptiles and some types of vegetation
Dislikes: Sunlight. Being a nocturnal animal, the slow loris wakes around sunset and is active throughout the night
Superpowers: His dangerous elbows. The slow loris’s doe eyes may make it look cute, but it is also deadly. The only known venomous primate, it hisses and clasps its paws and can produce a venom from its elbow that can cause anaphylactic shock and even death in humans
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
