What Israel's Halt on Commercial Goods to Gaza Means for Food and Prices

No commercial goods have entered the Gaza Strip for two days, Israeli authorities said Thursday, according to ABC News. The halt cuts off fruit, winter clothing and other items that private merchants bring in, just as people in the territory worry about getting through the cold months.

Israel blames Gaza's merchants, saying they stopped the shipments over taxes imposed by Hamas. Palestinian importers deny that, and the dispute leaves unclear how long the suspension will last.

Who is affected and what changes

Gaza is entirely dependent on whatever Israel lets through its border crossings, so any pause cuts supplies immediately. ABC News reported that, based on data released earlier this year by COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, aid groups generally bring in staples such as flour. Merchants mostly import perishable foods such as fruit and meat.

The suspension therefore removes one of the two main channels that feed the territory's roughly 2 million people. It was not clear from COGAT's announcement whether aid agencies would be allowed to send more trucks to make up the difference.

What this means for food and prices in Gaza

Humanitarian workers told the outlets that aid alone cannot keep people fed or keep prices manageable. Shaina Low, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the aid sector cannot meet everyone's needs by itself and that “the markets need to be functioning.”

The timing adds pressure. The world's leading authority on food insecurity reported earlier this year that conditions in Gaza had improved since famine was declared there in August 2025, but remained at crisis levels. Most families were still not getting nearly enough to eat. The report warned that even small disruptions to humanitarian access could quickly erase recent gains.

Two accounts of who stopped the trucks

COGAT announced the suspension Wednesday. Its deputy spokesperson, Lt. Daniel Kantorovich, said the agency was acting on a decision by Palestinian merchants made a day earlier. He said the vendors had canceled coordination with Israel because of Hamas's taxation and threats against them, and that the agency could reverse the step at their request. COGAT said no private-sector vendors had tried to bring in goods since the merchants notified Israel on Tuesday. Israel has long accused Hamas of charging fees on imports to fund its operations.

Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza's private truckers union, rejected that account. He said the merchants had not halted the shipments and that Israel had imposed the restrictions. The Independent noted it was not clear who made the decision.

After the announcement, Sheheiber's union met with Gaza's Ministry of Economy. According to Sheheiber, the union told the ministry that Israel was using the ministry's fees as a pretext to cut off commercial goods. He said the ministry had been asking merchants to pay 10,000 shekels (about $3,226) per truck entering Gaza. Khaled Al-Raqab, the ministry's undersecretary, told the union the payment was not a tax but a donation the ministry sought to help pay civil servants in the territory, according to the reports.

How the figures compare with the ceasefire terms

COGAT said Gaza's population needs about 250 truckloads of goods per day. That is far below the minimum of 600 trucks per day set out in the ceasefire the U.S. brokered a year ago, according to ABC News and The Independent.

The wider context

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages. Israel's bombardment and ground invasion have since killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry says more than 1,400 of those deaths came after the ceasefire took effect. Sporadic attacks have killed five Israeli soldiers in Gaza over the same period. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and U.N. agencies and independent experts generally regard its records as reliable. It does not separate civilians from militants in its count but says women and children make up around half of the dead.

What to watch next

COGAT said it could lift the suspension if the merchants ask. The union leader says the merchants did not make the decision, and the ministry says its payments are voluntary. The reports do not indicate when commercial shipments might resume or whether aid deliveries will increase.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News, The Independent