By Timothy S. Donahue

Top Takeaways:

• Cigarette prices explode: Packs in Gaza now exceed NIS 100, with extreme cases reaching even higher due to shortages and black-market demand.
• Smuggling at the center: Israeli prosecutors say cigarettes were a primary commodity in a multimillion-shekel smuggling network that supplied Gaza.
• High-profile case: A suspect linked to the Shin Bet chief underscores how lucrative—and sensitive—the illicit tobacco trade has become amid blockade conditions.

The price of a pack of cigarettes in the Gaza Strip has risen above 100 Israeli New Shekels (NIS) (US$35) in recent months—and in some cases, far higher—highlighting how severe shortages and black-market dynamics have reshaped everyday goods in the enclave, according to Israeli media outlet Walla.

Sources familiar with the market said prices have at times reached hundreds or even thousands of shekels per pack, driven by sharply reduced supply and sustained demand. Amid prolonged restrictions on goods entering Gaza, cigarettes have increasingly become a form of high-value contraband.

It’s been an ongoing issue. In 2024, media reports claimed that the acute scarcity of tobacco products sent prices skyrocketing, leaving smokers in the shattered seaside territory smokeless.

Fathi Sabbah, a 64-year-old father of four and a journalist by trade, said that after Israel took over the Rafah crossing into Egypt in May 2024, he saw a single stick (not a pack of 20) of Royal cigarettes sold for NIS 120 — the equivalent of about $32, according to media reports at the time.

The issue has resurfaced publicly just ahead of an announcement by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office that two indictments had been filed against suspects accused of participating in a large-scale smuggling operation that funneled goods into Gaza during active fighting and after the ceasefire began.

According to prosecutors, the operation moved goods worth millions of shekels into the enclave, with cigarettes and tobacco products identified as the primary items. Other smuggled goods allegedly included mobile phones, vehicle parts, batteries, and communications cables. Authorities say the proceeds and materials were intended for Hamas, according to local media.

Israeli police have named Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, as a suspect in a related security case involving cigarette smuggling into Gaza. Police said they have completed their investigation into Zini and two other suspects and are preparing a prosecutor’s statement, the procedural step that precedes formal indictments.

In a court ruling permitting Zini’s identity to be made public, Judge Yaniv Ben Harush said concerns that disclosure would compromise the investigation were no longer valid, noting that “the scale tips in favor of the principle of open justice” as the probe nears its conclusion.

Following the disclosure, Zini’s father, Rabbi Yosef Zini, said the authorities were effectively targeting the Shin Bet chief rather than his son.