Good morning from New York, where the city is vibrating in advance of Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals. There’s more news below — including everything that happened at the Tony Awards. But first, I’d like to introduce my colleague Emma Goldberg, who with Emily Kassie has just published a story about how Israeli trade restrictions and shadowy profiteers have driven up the prices of nearly everything in Gaza — from food to evacuation. Emma’s going to tell you about it.
Costs of warSaleh Abu Shamala, a 34-year-old man in London, has gone $125,000 into debt to keep his family in Gaza alive during the war. As soon as the war began, Saleh started transferring large amounts of money to his brother, who was supporting their aging parents and younger siblings. The prices of food and essential goods in the territory soon skyrocketed. A kilogram of flour went from 50 cents to $27. A kilo of eggs, which once cost $2.50, went up to $130. Cooking gas climbed from $2 per kilo to $190. And his father had a series of strokes, requiring the family to spend hundreds of dollars on medicine each month. Saleh opened his books to Emily and me to demonstrate the financial toll of the war. As we sifted through the bank statements and transfers, we wanted to know: Why did prices in Gaza climb so high? Emily and I traveled around Israel and the West Bank, and to the main commercial crossing into Gaza, to investigate. We met with merchants, money brokers, businessmen, human rights groups and truckers waiting to cross the border at dawn. What we found was a byzantine, often shadowy wartime economy, with both a tightly controlled commercial system and a raging black market. ‘Everyone takes their share’More than 400 commercial trucks used to enter Gaza each day. In the early months of the war, though, that number plummeted to an average of 14 as Israel clamped down on trade, citing security concerns. Israel chose a handful of Gazan businessmen who were permitted to import goods. Small merchants started paying steep fees to those chosen businesses for every truckload of goods. The merchants were often unsure of the function of the fees, or who ultimately pocketed them. But the effect was obvious: higher prices. One merchant, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety, showed us a receipt for fees he was paying and said: “The scarcer it is in Gaza, the higher the coordination fee.” Ruwa Jabr, the chief executive of PalTrade, a group that focuses on Palestinian economic development, told us that the prices continued to rise as different brokers took cuts along the way. “Everyone takes their share — by the time it reaches Gaza, the cost is huge,” she said. “A shipment that should cost 100 shekels ends up costing 20,000 shekels or more.” The system sent prices surging. While families like Saleh’s struggled to pay for essentials, though, others were beginning to cash in.
The smugglerBeginning in 2024, a figure who goes by the code name Abu Basel, who has “numerous connections within the Israeli police,” according to a recent indictment, started transporting banned goods worth tens of millions of shekels, or millions of dollars, through border crossings. His operation moved trucks full of contraband like cigarettes, restricted goods like concrete, a bulldozer, and a refrigerator filled with beef and chicken. We learned of Abu Basel’s role through interviews with Gazan traders, and through an Israeli indictment of one of Abu Basel’s associates. His smuggling operation benefited from his ties to the Israeli security services, according to the indictment. One night in December 2025, the Israeli police arrived at a warehouse where Abu Basel’s associate was supervising the loading of trucks. After Abu Basel spoke to one of the officers on the phone, the police released the smugglers and left. We also learned, from a forthcoming report by an investigative nonprofit called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, that Gazan traders who participated in a smuggling scheme claim that it was part of a security operation to obtain information about Israeli hostages, living and dead, who were still in Gaza. No reliefBack in London, Saleh is anxious about his mounting debts. But more than anything, he wants to help his family escape, at any cost. Every morning, he calls his brother Rashad in Gaza. They divvy up tasks for the day, like raising funds, searching for medicine for their father and sending emails about evacuation plans. “A person doesn’t even have time to grieve,” Rashad told us. “There is no time for sorrow.” Read our full investigation here.
War in the Middle East
Politics
Around the World
Transportation prices for World Cup games in New Jersey are astronomical. Should fans walk to the stadium? “Probably not,” write Alex Wolfe and Tom Wilson, after trying the walk. Since the Oct. 7 attack, Israel no longer conducts cold wars with unfriendly neighbors, Megan Stack writes. Now, it’s “trading peace for land.” Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
Check mates: Three men became friends over a chessboard in Central Park. The friendship saved one, or two, of their lives. Breaking point: The challenge and cost of raising children in America is overwhelming parents. Politicians are starting to take notice. K-sports: The N.F.L. is trying to recruit fans in South Korea. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was an Opinion column about the happiest U.S. states. Metropolitan Diary: Seven dates for $1. Psychiatrist and advocate: Robert Coles showed the impact of a fast-changing world on children whose voices were not often heard. His five “Children of Crisis” books came out between 1967 and 1977; the second and third won him a Pulitzer Prize. He died at 97.
10,800— That’s how many bottles of Noble Oak bourbon thieves took from a Philadelphia warehouse last week. The haul was worth about $500,000.
N.B.A.: President Trump and the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, both plan to be at Game 3 tonight as the New York Knicks take on the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. There will be no bags allowed in the arena and no watch parties outside. Men’s tennis: Alexander Zverev is finally a Grand Slam champion. He beat Flavio Cobolli in five sets at the French Open. Women’s tennis: Serena Williams, preparing for a professional comeback in doubles, she said she’s open to playing singles again, too.
There are few better weeknight recipes than the spaghetti carbonara my colleague Ian Fisher developed first for his family and then for The Times. Make sure to read the comments on it. They’re gold. (“Recipes are guidelines, people! If the end result is good, who cares if it doesn’t conform exactly to what your grandmother did.”)
“Schmigadoon!” — a musical comedy that lovingly spoofs the genre — won best new musical at last night’s Tony Awards. The award for best new play went to “Liberation,” a Pulitzer-winning drama by Bess Wohl about a 1970s women’s consciousness-raising group. Arthur Miller’s classic “Death of a Salesman” took home the award for best play revival, and “Ragtime” for best musical revival. The top acting prizes went to John Lithgow for “Giant” and Lesley Manville for her work in “Oedipus.” Several winners addressed the country’s charged political climate, with calls from the stage in support of trans rights, free speech and greater understanding. Qween Jean, who won for best costume design for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” became the first openly transgender person to win a Tony Award, according to a “Cats” publicist. |
