DaysofPal- Nearly a month after the ceasefire took effect in Gaza, residents say the long-awaited reopening of border crossings has brought not relief but frustration, as the Israeli occupation allows the entry of luxury goods while restricting essential food, medicine, and fuel supplies.
Locals describe the markets as filled with items such as coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, and other nonessential goods, products few can afford and that do little to meet the basic survival needs of a population that has endured months of famine and deprivation.
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, the Israeli occupation is obligated under the ceasefire agreement to permit 600 trucks per day into the enclave. In reality, only about 145 trucks are entering, less than a quarter of that number, and the vast majority carry commercial and nonessential goods.
Data reviewed by local authorities show that of the trucks allowed entry, 220 carry miscellaneous consumer goods, 82 carry clothing, and 23 transport household items, while only four carry medical supplies and six deliver fuel.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, accused the Israeli occupation of deliberately managing the humanitarian crisis through economic manipulation.
“The Israeli occupation is creating an illusion of normal commercial activity while the reality on the ground remains catastrophic,” al-Thawabta told Safa news agency.
“What we are witnessing is not a lifting of the siege but a shift from direct starvation to managing starvation through trade,” He added.
He said that the Israeli control over the type, quantity, and timing of goods entering Gaza represents “a systematic policy designed to deprive civilians of life-sustaining resources while flooding markets with unnecessary items.”
“This is not random behavior,” he added, noting that “It’s an intentional form of economic warfare, starvation by commerce. The Israeli occupation bans what sustains life and permits what offers no nourishment.”
Al-Thawabta warned that the policy amounts to a form of collective punishment and violates international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit using food and medicine as weapons of war.
He described the ongoing restrictions as “a slow-motion genocide managed through economic and trade tools,” made possible by “unjustifiable international silence.”
“There can be no improvement in food security indicators or reduction in hunger rates under these conditions,” he said, emphasizing that famine remains widespread across the Strip, with children, women, and the sick bearing the brunt of the crisis.
Despite the ceasefire signed on October 10 under U.S., Qatari, Egyptian, and Turkish mediation, implementation remains stalled.
Al-Thawabta said the deliberate Israeli slowdown at crossings shows it is using trade control as a weapon to continue its punitive measures against Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.
Humanitarian officials warn that unless the flow of essential goods increases dramatically, Gaza’s already dire situation could spiral into a full-scale humanitarian collapse, one managed not by bombs, but by the calculated control of bread, fuel, and medicine.
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