In Gaza, even cash comes at a cost
Tareq S. Hajjaj reports in Mondoweiss on 14 October 2026:
Muhammad Hussam thought the 200 shekels (approximately 65 USD; 1 shekel equals 0.3253 USD) he had received in cash from a humanitarian organization would bring a little joy to his children. The 38-year-old father, who was displaced from Shuja’iyya to Tel al-Hawa in western Gaza City, was struggling to provide food for his family, who were living in a tent.
Delighted by the cash assistance, he went to a grocery store near the displacement camp to buy some fruit. But when he handed over the 200 shekels to pay for two kilograms of apples, the shopkeeper refused it. He told Hussam that he only accepted bank transfers — Cash was no longer welcome.
Hussam tried another seller and received the same answer, with one exception: this shopkeeper would accept his cash only if he agreed to a 10% commission. He could then buy goods with whatever remained.
Hussam’s struggle to make ordinary financial transactions with cash — a predicament that would have once been unthinkable in Gaza, a society that until recently ran mostly on cash transactions — represents a new financial emergency facing Palestinians in Gaza.
Financial transactions in Gaza have been upended since the early stages of the Israeli war on the enclave. In the height of the genocide, Palestinians once paid commissions of up to 50% to withdraw cash from their own bank accounts. Now, as electronic payments spread and the banknotes in circulation deteriorate, some depositors are being charged for adding cash to their bank accounts, while others are charged for spending the cash they already have.