Israel to resume entry of private-sector goods to Gaza; 5 reportedly killed in Strip

Israel on Monday announced that the entry of private-sector goods into Gaza would gradually resume after Hamas was said to have dropped demands of taxes and payments from local merchants, ending a pause that began late last week.

The announcement came as Palestinian media reported that five people, including two boys, were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

The statement from COGAT, the Defense Ministry body responsible for overseeing the entry of goods into Gaza, came as the UN’s World Food Programme said it would end monthly assistance to 500,000 people in Gaza due to a funding shortfall, while warning that needs remain acute.

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Promoted: JPPI, Rabbi Sharon Brous

Meanwhile, the daily number of trucks carrying goods into Gaza had dropped from roughly 600 to 300 after local merchants halted coordination last week in protest of Hamas demands that they pay NIS 10,000 ($3,220) per truck and sell about 30% of their stock in cash, according to COGAT.

The demands contradicted Israel’s conditions, which stated that Gazan merchants whom it let import goods must make and receive payments exclusively through bank transfers. Those conditions were instituted in order to mitigate the development of a black market and the use of cash that could fall into the hands of Hamas. There are 13 such merchants, according to a security source who spoke with The Times of Israel.

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A senior source in Gaza’s independent Chamber of Commerce confirmed to The Times of Israel that merchants had told him Hamas was demanding taxes, and that those merchants had expressed their objection to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled economy ministry.

The source also said he intervened to secure the release last week of a merchant whom Hamas held in custody for a day for refusing to accept cash payments. According to the source, the Chamber of Commerce had also asked merchants to accept cash payments to accommodate people who don’t have bank accounts or payment apps.

On Monday, amid reports of rising prices in Gaza, COGAT said the merchants had said that Hamas dropped its demands.

“Following this development, the merchants submitted requests to resume coordination of the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said.

COGAT said the merchants’ accounts had not been independently verified and shipments would resume gradually, with priority given to essential goods ahead of winter.

Oversight would be tightened to ensure payments are made and received only through documented bank transfers, with any merchant found to have paid Hamas facing exclusion from the system.

“The resumption of coordination is being carried out in accordance with Israel’s commitment to the humanitarian provisions of the ceasefire agreement,” COGAT said.

Strikes said to kill five, badly wound terrorist released in Shalit deal

A US-brokered ceasefire-hostage deal was signed last October, almost two years after the war was sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.

While the agreement halted the heaviest fighting, it has not ended Israeli attacks in the Strip, which Israel says target terror operatives and are necessary to keep Hamas from rebuilding itself.

Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital was cited in Palestinian media as saying it received the bodies of two boys killed in an Israeli strike near the southern city on Monday. They were identified in Palestinian reports as Walid Shakshak, 13, and Yousef Abu Ghali, 14.

In Gaza City, in the north of the Strip, Shifa Hospital was cited as saying it received the body of a man killed by an Israeli strike on the Jalaa area in the city’s north. He was identified in reports as Tamer al-Sabbagh and described as a young man.

Hamas-affiliated media in Gaza also reported that an IDF strike in Gaza City’s central Daraj neighborhood killed a man, who was identified as Abdullah Harez.

Another drone strike in northwest Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood reportedly also killed at least one man, identified as Muhammad Shaasha, and badly wounded another, Abdullah Zitawi.

Zitawi was jailed in Israel for the murder of Zohar Shurgi in the West Bank in 2001. A Jordanian, he was expelled to Gaza after Israel released him and more than 1,000 terrorists — including October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar — in exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

The IDF did not immediately comment on any of the strikes reported in Gaza City or Khan Younis.

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