No commercial goods enter Gaza for two days as Israel and merchants dispute why

Right · 2No commercial goods have entered the Gaza Strip for two days, Israeli authorities said on Thursday, blaming the suspension on merchants angered by taxes imposed by Hamas, a claim Palestinian importers deny. 1 2 Right · 1COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, announced the suspension on Wednesday. Its deputy spokesperson, Lt. Daniel Kantorovich, said it was acting on a decision made by Palestinian merchants a day earlier and could reverse it at their request. 1 Right · 1Kantorovich said vendors had cancelled coordination "due to Hamas's taxation mechanism and threats against them", and COGAT said no private-sector vendors had tried to import goods since the merchants alerted Israel on Tuesday. 1

Right · 2Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza's private truckers union, disputed this, saying the merchants did not stop the shipments and that Israel imposed the restrictions. 1 2 Right · 1After COGAT's announcement, the union met Gaza's Ministry of Economy, saying Israel was using the ministry's fees as a pretext. Sheheiber said the ministry had asked merchants for 10,000 shekels (about $3,226) per truck; Undersecretary Khaled Al-Raqqab told the union this was a donation to help pay civil servants, not a tax. 1 Right · 1Israel has long accused Hamas of levying fees on imports to fund its operations. 1

Right · 1The halt covers goods such as fruit and winter clothing. Aid groups generally bring in staples like flour, while merchants import perishable foods such as fruit and meat, according to COGAT data released earlier this year. Gaza is wholly reliant on what Israel lets through its crossings. 1 Right · 1Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council said aid alone cannot meet needs and that markets need to function; humanitarian workers fear higher prices. It was unclear whether aid agencies would be allowed to send more to compensate. 1 Right · 1COGAT said Gaza's roughly 2 million people need about 250 truckloads a day, well below the minimum of 600 trucks a day set by the US-brokered ceasefire of a year ago. 1

Right · 1The world's leading food-insecurity authority reported earlier this year that conditions had improved since famine was declared in August 2025 but remained at crisis levels, warning that small disruptions could rapidly reverse gains. 1 Right · 1The war began when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023 and took 251 hostages; Gaza's health authority says Israel's response has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, including over 1,400 since the ceasefire. 1