Gaza forced to use unreliable online payments amid ‘cash famine’

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – In a clothing shop in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, Firas Zaqloul stands helplessly as he tries to pay for his purchases.

The problem is that he can’t get the seller to accept his money.

Zaqloul’s home was destroyed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, burying his Palestinian identity card beneath the rubble. Without it, he says, he has been unable to open a bank account or electronic wallet, leaving him dependent on increasingly scarce and badly-worn banknotes that many merchants refuse to take.

“I suffer every day when I want to buy something,” Zaqloul said. “The seller refuses worn-out banknotes, so I have to … find some way to pay him.”

“I just hope merchants in Gaza will take the money from us,” he added. “In the end, it’s all money.”

Zaqloul’s experience has become increasingly common in Gaza, where an acute shortage of usable cash has become known locally as a “cash famine”.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Israel has severely restricted the entry of cash into Gaza, while its military campaign has devastated much of the territory’s banking infrastructure. The result is an economy in which people may technically have money but struggle to access it, or find someone willing to accept the notes in their possession.

According to the Palestine Monetary Authority, which oversees banking, Israeli attacks have destroyed more than 50 bank branches across Gaza, as well as dozens of cash machines. Large quantities of cash were also trapped inside the vaults of damaged or destroyed banks.