The thriving underground trade is hampering aid deliveries as chaos and lawlessness grip Gaza.
A Palestinian vendor sells cigarettes in Rafah. Illicit cigarettes, one of Gaza’s last forms of currency, are hidden inside hollowed-out watermelons and boxes of diapers, smuggled on trucks through Israeli-controlled crossings and sold for as much as $30 apiece. JERUSALEM — A black market for cigarettes is booming in the besieged Gaza Strip, a window into the lawlessness and desperation in the enclave nine months into Israel’s war against Hamas.
Georgios Petropoulos, head of the U.N. humanitarian coordination office in Gaza, said criminal gangs have developed a “cartellike operation.” Fueled by the demand for cigarettes, he said, any truck can be a target.In response, some private sector traders have hired armed guards to protect their convoys. Trucks carrying U.N. aid are a “softer target,” Petropoulos said, because as a policy they do not hire private guards.
His current route begins in West Bank fruit and vegetable markets, where people working with him pay a driver to conceal cigarettes in commercial items destined for Gaza.“We arrange the cigarette packs at the bottom of the boxes that are supposed to hold the vegetables,” he said in a phone interview. “Every time we invent a specific method.”
At Kerem Shalom, Israel says all goods are inspected to prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons. Goren said COGAT finds and confiscates “90 to 95 percent” of hidden cigarettes, but did not respond to further questions.Adel Amr, head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian transport syndicate, said that “90 percent” of trucks coming from the West Bank are not involved in smuggling efforts. Goren said cigarettes have also been found in aid coming from Egypt.
Wassim Aqel, 38, said his family’s transport company works with private-sector traders. The company pays thousands of shekels to local Palestinians to guard trucks driving along the highway.
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