On the side of adusty road in Gaza, dozens of mostly young men gather against the counter of a makeshift storefront. Under a canvas roof, the acrylic display cases are filled with boxes of high-end cellphones.
It is a surreal spectacle: Palestinians, many displaced from theirbombed-out homes, malnourished, sick and joblessin this collapsed economy, being sold the recently releasediPhone 17 Pro. Even budget phones have been selling for as much as 5,000 shekels — around $1,500 — according to customers in Gaza, where prices have spiked to 10 times those in other countries.
That such luxury items are in supply, but often food or medicine are still scarce, is exasperating aid workers and Palestinians. Experts interviewed for this story said Israel's border controls often make commercial goods easier to transport thanhumanitarian aid. Though the flow has increased during theshaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the United Nations and other groups say they are still facing serious restrictions on urgent items.
"We cannot even afford food — how are we supposed to afford phones?" asked Samir Kamal Awad Abou Dakaa, 52, who was a construction worker before the war and has a wife and five children to feed.
His family lives in a tent encampment in the southern city of Khan Younis, where his kids are given Arabic lessons using a scrap of blackboard and fed rice at a local soup kitchen. His faded blue track jacket, thinning hair and quiet voice betray what he calls a "beyond difficult" life.
This contrast is not new for Gaza, said Mona Jebril, a research fellow at England's University of Cambridge who lived in the territory for 22 years. "Before the war and during the siege, there were mobile phones and expensive cars. But because of the extra restrictions on the borders, the massive devastation and humanitarian catastrophe, then this paradox comes to light even more."
This is the latest twist in efforts to get aid into Gaza during a patchy ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. WhilePresident Donald Trump's peace planappears to be holding, albeit with regular Israeli airstrikes, the crisis endures.
Nearly all of the population of some 2 million has been displaced, 80% of the buildings have been destroyed or damaged, and 9,000 children were hospitalized for malnutrition in October alone, according to the U.N.
The ceasefire has changed things. Some 65,000 pallets of aid came into Gaza during the first month of the ceasefire, the U.N. said, double the previous four weeks. But essential equipment, such as forklift trucks and mobile storage units, is still being "systematically rejected by Israeli authorities,"the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) said. Medical equipment, food parcels and solar lighting, meanwhile, are still being "blocked from entry at scale" by Israeli restrictions, administrative controls and logistics backlogs, OCHA said.
An analysis of Israeli figures by The Associated Press last week showed there has been a shortfall in aid deliveries, with Israel agreeing to let in 600 trucks per day but the true daily average totaling 459.
Israel'sCoordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, declined to comment on the cellphones being sold in Gaza. But it said in a statement that Israel was "fully committed to its obligation to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid trucks in accordance with the agreement."
Responding to a report by UNICEF last month that said Israel was restricting bottles for baby formula and syringes because these items were considered to have "dual" military and civilian uses, it said "the claim that Israel restricts baby food is entirely baseless."
Sam Rose, acting director of Gaza affairs at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) criticized what he sees as hypocrisy and double standards: allowing in commercial goods such as phones, e-scooters and junk food more easily than humanitarian aid.
The U.N.-led aid system is being constrained by Israeli dual-use rules and checks, according to Rose, whose agency has been banned by Israel from operating in east Jerusalem and the West Bank over allegations it has been infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA denies this, and the move has been criticized internationally.
He bemoans "a lot of crap" that is currently "available on the market" in Gaza. "It's much more difficult, costly and risky for suppliers to ship fresh goods," Rose added. Yet for some, iPhones are vital pieces of technology used for everything from children's education to following the news in this electricity-, information- and media-starved enclave.
"Gaza operates with only 2G," said Jebril, the Palestinian academic at Cambridge, adding that Israel which maintains control over the telecommunications network in the enclave, does not allow 3G, 4G or 5G.
"Even so, a mobile phone is more important than it was ever in Gaza," essential for studying, emergency communication and checking on relatives in other parts of the strip, she said.
For others, there exists a small but lucrative market between traders and the small minority of Palestinians who have managed to retain or accrue large amounts of cash during the war, according to Tania Hary, executive director of the Israeli human rights group Gisha, which specializes in the movement of people and goods across Gaza's borders.
This is the first time in two years that phones are being allowed into Gaza through official channels, Hary said. "So there's excitement around it, and greater demand for phones and also accessories," she added. And just like in the West, some are keen for the status iPhones impart, although this is a tiny minority of the population.
A handful of that minority were pressed against the counter of the Tabia cellphone store in Khan Younis on a recent morning. Bombed out of its previous showrooms, Tabia now operates out of a makeshift tentlike structure, with a canvas roof and wooden and metal supports. Its name was printed on an orange and white fabric banner.
It sold everything from budget models, such as the Redmi A5 and POCO C71, both made by China's Xiaomi, up to the iPhone 17 Pro, which retails for more than $1,000 in the U.S.
The war, border restrictions and general logistics backlogs and chaos meant prices previously spiked to several times the normal market value, according to the store's owner, Monzer Abou Hamad, as well as customers interviewed by NBC News. However, the influx of phones meant that these prices have since settled down.
"At the moment, there is a high demand for devices, first because of the high school students, and second because education in Gaza has become electronic," said Hamad.
Phones are compact and profitable, so traders can import them more easily than bulky or restricted items like formula, medical supplies or construction materials, said Eran Yashiv, an Israeli economist who has studied and written extensively about Gaza's economy.
"A small group of buyers with access to cash creates a market that traders are eager to serve, even while most households face severe shortages," he said.
The result? "A distorted economy in which luxury goods can appear in shops while essential supplies remain bottlenecked," he said, "reflecting the chaotic mix of political control, commercial incentives, and humanitarian failure that now characterizes Gaza."
With the continuing Israeli bombardment disrupting every facet of life — from education and health care to news and entertainment — people in Gaza are increasingly reliant on their screens for information and respite.
"The mobile phone is the only device that conveys the truth to the world, and therefore it is an essential beacon," said Farid Kabalan, an economist from Khan Younis.
Mohaned Ahmed Abdel Khafour, 20, is a case in point.
"I use my phone for reading, work and everything. Everything needs a phone," he said. His old device was damaged in the war — "so I had to buy one."
There is added mistrust from some Palestinians, who see in this rapid arrival of new technology echoes of the mass pager explosions in Lebanon of 2024. Dozens are believed to have been killed, and 1,500 injured, according to Hezbollah, in what was widely interpreted as an intelligence operation by Israel.
"After what happened with the pagers, I personally wouldn't go anywhere near those phones either," said Hary at Gisha.
