Скачать или смотреть Food prices fall in Gaza but many Palestinians have no money to buy

(24 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Deir Al Balah, Central Gaza Strip - 24 May 2024
1. Various of crowd at market
2. Various of fruits with Israeli label on display
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mouin Jomaa, displaced man from Gaza:
"The past two days have been better than other days. The prices are mostly starting to go back to their normal levels and the exorbitant prices that were there before are now almost gone."
4. Various of people buying tomatoes
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mouin Jomaa, displaced man from Gaza:
"There are (some) people who have no money. So even if the prices go down, they don't have the money to buy. They are not receiving their salaries, and the private sector is not working as it is destroyed. So it remains expensive. If the prices go down, there is no money for (some) people to buy what they need."
6. Various of people buying produce from vegetable stands
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Auni Abu Mosbeh, from Deir al-Balah:
"The difference in prices is better when comparing one period to another (an earlier period). Now it is good but at the same time, it is not good. It is good and not good, why? I can buy a specific item, but others cannot afford to do so because there is no work and no money. People have no money, so money is dead. People have nothing to live on. Those who are (truly) living are 20% and the 80% are dead, the people are dead."
8. Various of stall offering snacks and juice
9. Crowd at the market
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) sugar merchant who does not wish to have his name published:
"Since the Israeli occupation authorities allowed the entrance (of goods), prices are dirt cheap. A bag of sugar is worth 15 (shekels) and for now, the prices of vegetables and fruits are all normal. The prices for now are lower than those of normal days."
11. Various of crowd at market
STORYLINE:
Prices of food products have dropped in the Gaza Strip, but residents say many Palestinians in the enclave have no work and no money to buy goods, even if they are cheaper.

Since a border crossing with Egypt was closed earlier this month, much of the goods in Gaza now come from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Residents of the Gaza Strip said on Friday that vegetables, fruits, sugar and other products are available in the market at lower prices.

However many Palestinians have lost their jobs and have depleted their saving since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, leaving them unable to afford what they need.

"People have no money, so money is dead. People have nothing to live on. Those who are (truly) living are 20% and the 80% are dead, the people are dead," said Auni Abu Mosbeh from Deir al-Balah.

The transportation of goods from Egypt used to cost three times as much as that of goods coming from Israel or the Israeli-occupied West Bank, from which goods are also shipped without taxes and customs duties.

Products coming from Egypt used to pile at the border.

Those coming from the West Bank and Israel have to pass through two checkpoints one near the West Bank town of Hebron and another at the Kerem Shalom border crossing that links Israel with the Gaza Strip.

Search operations are not as strict at Kerem Shalom compared to those at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The Bank of Palestine opened one of its branches in the Gaza Strip, which allowed some people to withdraw money.

International officials have said that all 2.3 million Gaza residents are struggling to find food to eat, and 1.1 million are facing catastrophic levels of food shortage.





AP video by Abd Al Kareem Hana



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