On the streets of Gaza city, new shopfronts are lighting up the night. Restaurants open their doors, cafes are filled with decor and music, and supermarkets have imported goods neatly stacked on their shelves in time for Ramadan.
As Palestinians observe the holy month under a fragile ceasefire, the growth of Gaza's retail sector may look to an outsider like a sign of recovery, a city stirring back to life. But behind the glass facades, the reality is different.
Ahmed Abu Qamar, an economic analyst from Gaza, says unemployment in the enclave is at 80 per cent after thousands of businesses closed during the war. Attacks by Israel destroyed the farms, workshops and small industry that were the backbone of the strip's economy.
Even after the ceasefire, despite US visions of a glitzy, $30 billion economic revival, many companies and organisations laid off workers, in a place where there are no financial safety nets.
“There is no real income, and purchasing power has collapsed,” Mr Abu Qamar tells The National. “You cannot measure the health of the economy by counting how many malls or restaurants have opened.”
He said prices were rising as the economy stagnates. “The labour market has collapsed,” Mr Abu Qamar says. “Income sources have disintegrated. Infrastructure is destroyed, and the economy is nearly paralysed. What we see now is not development, it is economic distortion.”
Before the war, Gaza’s economy relied on production. Agriculture, food processing, metal workshops and small industries supported families and even generated exports. Consumer businesses, supermarkets and restaurants were considered marginal.
Today, that balance has reversed. In Gaza city's Al Zeitoun neighbourhood, Murad Al Ghazi, 43, stands inside a supermarket he never imagined he would own.
Before the war, Mr Al Ghazi and his seven brothers operated a metal lathe workshop inherited from their father and grandfather. The trade sustained their family and about 150 workers and engineers, directly and indirectly.
“When the war came, everything was destroyed,” he tells The National. “Our workshops were flattened. We stayed without work for nearly two years.”
After the ceasefire, the brothers attempted to retrieve damaged machinery from beneath the rubble. But spare parts were unavailable, electricity unreliable and raw materials barred from entry. Restarting industrial production proved impossible.
They decided to open a supermarket instead “because food and basic goods are the only things allowed to enter”, Mr Al Ghazi says.
The shift from manufacturing to retail represents not just a career change for the brothers, but a transformation of Gaza’s entire economic structure, from production to consumption.
“Industrial work builds an economy,” Mr Al Ghazi says. “Consumer projects are temporary. They don’t create capital. They don’t create real growth.”
The difference is stark. The family now employs only seven in their grocery shop. “That difference alone explains everything,” he says.
Across Gaza city, Mousa Al Hilu, 39, sees new cafes and restaurants opening every day. Social media is filling with photos of decorated interiors and smiling customers.
“Someone looking from outside might think Gaza has recovered,” Mr Al Hilu says. “But this is not recovery. It’s an attempt to cover the tragedy.”
He describes restaurants surrounded by tents housing displaced families who cannot afford a single meal inside.
“In front of these new places are people who can’t find food,” he says. “They have no income, no ability to shop or dine there.”
Mr Al Hilu works for the Palestinian Authority and earns about $3,000 a month, a relatively stable income in Gaza today. Yet he struggles to cover basic expenses for his family of five.
“I can barely meet essential needs,” he says. “These restaurants and malls are not for most people.”
The expansion of consumer projects, analysts warn, creates the illusion of economic movement while masking deeper structural collapse.
“An economy cannot survive on consumption alone,” Mr Abu Qamar says. “Without agriculture, industry, construction and exports, what remains is hollow.”
The bright lights of new shopfronts may suggest resilience. But behind them lies a stripped-down economy, one where factories are silent, workshops are rubble and employment has shrunk to a fraction of what it once was.
