Top-end iPhones on sale in Gaza as food and medicine trickle into territory

On the side of a dusty road in Gaza, dozens of mostly young men gather against the counter of a makeshift storefront.

On the side of a dusty 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 their bombed-out homes, malnourished, sick and jobless in this collapsed economy, being sold the recently released iPhone 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 is 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 than humanitarian aid. Though the flow has increased during the shaky 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.