Gaza, March 29, 2026 (WAFA) – Reem Sweisi
Obtaining a loaf of bread in the Gaza Strip has recently become virtually impossible, not because of a shortage of flour, but because of a “change” crisis (coins and small denominations), a crisis that actually began with the start of the aggression on October 7, 2023.
In detail, the closure of the crossings by the occupation to the entry of cash, especially with regard to the exchange of worn paper currency, has led to a shortage of cash, especially small denominations .
How did “change” affect the price of bread?
This crisis is compounded by the already complex living conditions of Gaza residents, where crises are piling up at an alarming rate; no sooner do they emerge from one than they find themselves facing an even more intricate one. The latest crisis is the requirement by bakeries and bread vendors to accept small change, effectively holding both the citizen and their daily bread hostage to this predicament .
Citizen Walid Abu Jiab (a forty-year-old unemployed man) says: “The bakery and bread outlets force us to pay for a bundle of bread in cash with small change, and since we do not have these denominations, the bakery refuses to sell to us or deal through the application . ”
He adds: “What is my children’s fault in this equation? Where am I supposed to get the change from? And why do the bakery and points of sale insist on dealing with it ? “
Abu Jiab concludes his statement: “Due to the lack of change, I return empty-handed to my children every day without bread, and I don’t know what the solution is. Isn’t what we are suffering as a result of this war enough? ”
It is noted that citizens are forced to buy ready-made bread due to the unavailability of cooking gas and the high prices of firewood and wood in Gaza, where the price of one kilo is about seven shekels (about two dollars), if it is available, which makes buying a bundle of bread relatively cheaper .
For her part, citizen Samia Al-Halabi (66 years old) says: “I get a bundle of bread at double the price, reaching ten shekels, while the bakery sells it for three shekels, but I cannot get it directly because of the small change crisis, so I am forced to buy it from distribution points at many times the price and through the bank application .”
She adds: “We want a radical solution to this problem that has reached the point of affecting our daily bread. Isn’t the poverty we live in every day enough for us? “
She concludes her statement: “Sometimes my grandchildren go to sleep without bread, and I have to ask a neighbor in the camp for some loaves .”
Al-Halabi is caring for five orphaned grandchildren, after their father was martyred at the beginning of the aggression as a result of targeting the “Abu Arabyan” school in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, which led to the martyrdom of ten citizens, most of them children .
A new method of starvation
For his part, merchant Nahed Shuhayber says: “There has become a bread crisis resulting from the small change crisis, which we suffer from daily, to the point that we have to save any small denomination of money at night so that we can buy bread the next day .”
He adds: “This is an issue that must be highlighted in the media, in order to find a solution mechanism, especially since the citizen is unable to buy firewood or gas to prepare bread .”
He continues: “The responsibility for the solution lies with the bakeries and distribution points, which should not restrict payment to small change. We have contacted several parties, but the solution lies in allowing cash to enter Gaza through the banks .”
He concludes: “How long will this crisis, which is already troubling the exhausted citizen, continue? It is a new way to starve people, and a fabricated crisis behind which the occupation stands .”
Distribution points “cause of the problem “
For his part, the head of the bakeries association, Abdul Nasser Al-Ajrami, explains: “We do not deal with the citizen directly, but rather through distribution points, through which, according to the agreement with the World Food Programme, payment is made equally between cash and the bank application, while we use cash to pay the workers’ salaries and maintain the machines .”
He adds in his interview with Wafa: “The points of sale are the cause of the problem, because they require citizens to pay in small change .”
He continues: “The distribution points belong to the World Food Programme, not to the bakeries, and they were adopted to relieve pressure on the bakeries and avoid friction with citizens, in light of the increasing number of people in need of bread .”
He concludes: “We demand that the World Food Programme require distribution points to deal through the banking application, to ease the burden on citizens .”
It is noted that the number of bakeries operating in the Gaza Strip is about 20, according to Al-Ajrami’s statistics .
There is no solution in sight for the small change crisis.
Economically, expert Mohammed Abu Jayyab believes the crisis is likely to continue, saying: “The small change crisis will not end until the electronic banking system is fully activated, as the Israeli side will not allow sufficient quantities of cash to enter, and the economic system will move towards electronic payment .”
He adds: “In the future, bank notifications in their current form may disappear, to be replaced by another system for verifying payment transactions .”
He concludes: “The economy in Gaza is suffering greatly from the repercussions of the war, as the productive, industrial and agricultural sectors have been disrupted by more than 80%, while unemployment rates have risen to more than 80%.”
F.A.
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