Israel says commercial goods will not enter Gaza, a major shutoff for the hungry territory

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said that commercial goods will no longer enter the Gaza Strip, cutting off a key source of food and shelter supply for the war-torn territory as hungry Palestinians face the approach of winter.

COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, announced the suspension of commercial goods in a Wednesday statement. It was not clear whether they made the decision. COGAT said it was relaying a statement from Gaza merchants, a claim Palestinians refuted.

The move stands to immediately reduce Gaza's supplies, because the closed-off territory is completely reliant on whatever goods Israel allows in through border crossings. The suspension also raised fears about affordability, with humanitarian workers saying a combination of aid and a robust commercial market is needed to keep prices under control.

“The humanitarian sector on its own cannot meet the needs of all the people,” said Shaina Low, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council, an aid group. “The markets need to be functioning.”

The world’s leading authority on food insecurity reported earlier this year that conditions in Gaza had improved since famine was declared in the territory in August 2025, but were still at crisis levels. Most families in the war-battered enclave weren’t getting nearly enough to eat, said the report, adding that “even small disruptions to humanitarian access could rapidly reverse recent gains.”

In announcing the measure, COGAT claimed to be communicating a decision made by local merchants in Gaza who had grown tired of Hamas taxing their trucks and threatening them. Israel has long accused the militant group of levying fees on imports to fund its operations.

But the head of Gaza’s private truckers union, Nahed Sheheiber, disputed that, saying Israel had made the decision.

“The merchants are not the ones who stopped the shipments," he said. “The Israeli coordinator is claiming that Gaza’s merchants are responsible, but the truth is that the Israelis are the ones who imposed the restrictions.”

Following COGAT's announcement, Shehaiber's union met with Gaza's Ministry of Economy to express concern and say Israel was citing fees levied by the ministry as a pretext to cut off commercial goods.

The ministry had been asking merchants to pay 10,000 shekels (about $3,226) per truck entering Gaza, Shehaiber said. At the meeting, ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Raqab told the union that the amount was not a tax, but rather a donation sought by the ministry to help pay civil servants in the strip.

It was not clear from the COGAT announcement if aid agencies would be allowed to increase shipments into Gaza to compensate for the loss in commercial goods.

The agency claimed that Gaza's population — of roughly 2 million people — required approximately 250 truckloads of goods each day. That's far below the minimum of 600 trucks a day stipulated by a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. a year ago.

The war started when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, and took 251 hostages . Israel responded with a massive bombardment and a ground invasion that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

That includes over 1,400 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire took effect, the ministry says. Sporadic attacks have killed five Israeli soldiers in Gaza in the same period.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up around half the dead.

Mroue reported from Beirut.