How Israel is ‘managing’ the famine in Gaza by using local merchants
Gaza clan members secure an aid truck in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, 25 June 2025
Tareq S. Hajjaj reports in Mondoweiss on 2 September 2025:
Since May 27, the Israeli army has allowed the entry of a limited number of aid trucks into Gaza. Some of them belonged to the UN’s World Food Program (WFP), entering through the northern Zikim crossing or Karam Abu Salem to the south. The majority of them have been looted, while others have been set upon by starving Palestinians. In many instances, the Israeli army opened fire on the crowds and trucks alike. But there were some convoys that got through without incident, enjoying armed security escorts until arriving at their destination. These trucks were owned by private merchants in the Strip.
According to the Gaza Government Media Office, only 941 aid trucks have entered the Zikim crossing since May 27, while 287 commercial trucks belonging to Palestinian merchants have been let in.
“In both cases, what is allowed in is a drop in the ocean of the actual daily needs of Gaza and its population of 2.4 million, including 1.2 million children,” Ismail Thawabta, the director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told Mondoweiss.
But while the majority of the 941 trucks have been looted through the system of so-called “self-distribution,” the private trucks remain unmolested because the merchants pay large “entry fees” to the Israeli army worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, according to a merchant who spoke to Mondoweiss on the condition of anonymity. The source added that merchants also allot sizable funds to hiring private security escorts.
According to Ismail Thawabta, the merchants bring in the trucks through middlemen who coordinate with the Israeli authorities.