The war in Iran has sparked panic buying in Gaza after Israel shut a key border crossing.
Shock waves from the US-Israeli attacks on Iran were felt immediately in the Palestinian territory, where famine took hold last year due to Israel's wartime border closures.
Ahmad Al Hanawi, 37, from Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza city, said the fear was instant. “My heart was in my throat,” he told The National. “I didn’t wake up panicked just because there was war, but because I know what wars mean for us.”
Later, Mr Al Hanawi went to a market to buy sugar, flour and rice. He encountered crowded shops, long queues and customers buying whatever they could carry. “Everyone was trying to secure themselves for as long as possible,” he said. “We’ve learnt the hard way.”
Hours after launching attacks on Iran, the Israeli military announced the closure of all routes into Gaza, including the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. After months of Israeli bureaucratic delays, Rafah was partially reopened last month under US President Donald Trump's ceasefire deal.
Israel said Gaza's existing supplies of food should “suffice for an extended period”. But for Mr Al Hanawi and his family of six, memories of wartime famine remain fresh. He has bought enough food, he hopes, to last two months.
“Famine is something you don’t forget if you’ve lived through it,” he said. “The idea of going through that again is terrifying.”
He said Gaza should be shielded from the consequences of conflicts it has no part in. “We have nothing to do with this war,” he said. “The crossings should stay open. People have suffered enough.”
Rising prices
In Al Shati refugee camp, Ibrahim Abu Hamid, 26, saw another side of the panic: soaring prices. “Sugar, flour, cooking oil … everything went up,” he told The National. “And it happened immediately.”
Mr Abu Hamid, who has no steady income and relies on financial support from his brother abroad after his father was killed in the war, said even a small increase in prices hits families hard.
“Prices were already high before this,” he said. “If the crossing stays closed, they’ll double every day.” He accused traders of exploiting fear.
“There’s no real oversight,” he said. “Goods are still available in large quantities, they’re not running out. But when people rush to buy, prices rise.”
Food trader Tamer Taha, 42, insisted that panic buying, rather than actual supply shortages, were the cause of market disruption.
“From the first hour, we posted messages telling people not to rush or store food unnecessarily,” he said.
Mr Taha sees the closure of border crossings as a precaution rather than a punitive measure and is hopeful it will last only a few days “until things stabilise”.
But he acknowledges that fear in Gaza runs deeper than logic. “After famine and war, people don’t feel stable,” he said. “They react from trauma.”
Even if goods remain in warehouses, perception alone can destabilise the market. For many families still recovering from destruction and displacement, even rumours of shortages are enough to trigger stockpiling. That can fuel inflation, a cycle Gaza knows well.
“What happened shows how fragile the situation is,” Mr Taha said. “One piece of news can create chaos.”
Nahed Shuhibar, head of the Private Transport Association, sought to reassure the public. “The closure is routine and may not last long,” he said.
Israeli authorities have cited Jewish holidays, security concerns and the safety of drivers as reasons for sealing the borders, Mr Shuhibar said. He said means of co-ordination for traders and aid workers were still active.
“We’ve experienced this before,” he said. “The crossing will reopen.”
But for families who endured months of hunger, displacement and uncertainty, the fear of shortages is far from abstract. For Mr Al Hanawi in Sheikh Radwan, the fear is simple.
“We just want the crossings to stay open,” he says. “We can’t survive another famine.”
