Palestinians struggle to buy essentials while profiteers charge up to 40% to exchange salaries for cash
\n Gaza
\nA shortage of cash in Gaza has left Palestinians unable to spend what little money they have without falling victim to wartime profiteers.
\nBanks, many damaged or destroyed along with homes, schools and other institutions across Gaza during two years of war, began reopening on October 16, six days after the ceasefire was announced. Queues soon formed but people came away disappointed.
\n\u201cThere is no money, liquidity at the bank,\u201d said father-of-six Wael Abu Fares, 61, standing outside the Bank of Palestine. \u201cYou just come and do paperwork transactions and leave.\u201d
\nPeople need cash for most everyday transactions in Gaza, whether to buy food in the market or pay utility bills, but Israel blocked transfers of banknotes along with most other goods following the attack and mass hostage-taking by Hamas-led militants in October 2023.
\nHuge fees to cash salaries
\n\u201cBanks are open, Air conditioning is on, but they are mostly doing electronic business, no deposits, no withdrawals of cash,\u201d Gaza economist Mohammad Abu Jayyab told Reuters.
\n\u201cPeople go to some greedy merchants to cash their salaries and they give them cash for a huge fee, which ranges between 20% and sometimes goes to 40%.\u201d
\nMother-of-seven Iman al-Ja\u2019bari longs for a time when transactions at banks used to take less than an hour.
\n\u201cYou need two or three days to go back and forth, back and forth, spending your whole life standing there,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd in the end, you only get 400 or 500 shekels ($123 or $153). What can this (amount) buy with the incredibly high prices today that we can\u2019t afford?\u201d.
\nFor a few Palestinians, the cash crunch has provided an opportunity to eke out a living. Manal al-Saidi, 40, repairs damaged banknotes to cover some basic needs.
\n\u201cI work and I make 20, 30 shekels ($6, $9), and I leave with a loaf of bread, beans for dinner, falafel, anything, something simple,\u201d she said, wiping notes.
\n\u201cNot that I can get (afford) vegetables or anything, no, just enough to get by.\u201d
\nSome people resort to electronic transfers through bank apps for even small items such as eggs or sugar, but the sellers apply additional fees.
\nThe issue of cash supplies into Gaza was not included in U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s 20-point peace plan, which also left the details of reconstruction and security to be decided.
\nCOGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into the Gaza Strip, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether or when banknotes may be allowed back in.
\nThe shortage of notes and coins has compounded the crisis for Gazans who have lost relatives, jobs and homes, used up their savings and sold their possessions to buy food, tents and medications. Some have resorted to barter to get by. Palestinian merchant Samir Namrouti, 53, has got used to banknotes that are almost unrecognisable through overuse.
\n\u201cWhat matters to me is its serial number. As long as its serial number is there, that\u2019s it, I treat it as money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Palestinians struggle to buy essentials while profiteers charge up to 40% to exchange salaries for cash Gaza A shortage of cash in Gaza has left Palestinians unable to spend what little money they have without falling victim to wartime profiteers. Banks, many damaged or destroyed along with homes, schools and other institutions across Gaza during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-511921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n