Gazans Worry as Israeli Border Block Sends Food Prices Climbing

One day after Israel began halting the entry of all goods and humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip, Palestinians there are already feeling the effects of the sweeping measure, with prices of essential goods on the rise.

“It was a complete shock,” Iman Saber, a 24-year-old nurse from northern Gaza, said of Israel’s decision on Sunday to block aid and commercial shipments.

Already, said Ms. Saber, who has been living in a tent with her father, a cancer patient, and her mother and sister, prices for sugar, oil and chicken have gone up, and hopes raised by the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas have proved fleeting.

“We couldn’t wait for shops to reopen and prices to drop, to feel some relief,” Ms. Saber said in a phone interview. “But now everything is becoming expensive again.”

Israel’s halt on goods and aid, including fuel, was aimed at pressuring Hamas into accepting its new proposal for extending the cease-fire, which paused the war in Gaza after 15 months of fighting and has since expired. Hours before the border closure was announced, Israel proposed a seven-week extension during which Hamas would have to release half the remaining hostages seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that set off the war.

The renewed aid blockade affected not just humanitarian aid, which is distributed free, but also commercial goods, and the effect on prices in the devastated enclave was almost immediate, Gazans said. The ban on shipments came as many were already struggling to observe the holy month of Ramadan, usually a festive time of fasting and worship.