Top-end iPhones on sale in Gaza as food and medicine trickles into territory

“Gaza operates with only 2G,” said Jebril, the Palestinian academic at Cambridge, adding that Israel which maintains control over the telecommunications network in the enclave, does not allow 3G, 4G or 5G.

“Even so, a mobile phone is more important than it was ever in Gaza,” essential for studying, emergency communication and checking on relatives in other parts of the strip, she said.

For others, there exists a small but lucrative market between traders and the small minority of Palestinians who have managed to retain or accrue large amounts of cash during the war, according to Tania Hary, executive director of the Israeli human rights group Gisha, which specializes in the movement of people and goods across Gaza’s borders.

This is the first time in two years that phones are being allowed into Gaza through official channels, Hary said. “So there’s excitement around it, and greater demand for phones and also accessories,” she added. And just like in the West, some are keen for the status iPhones impart, although this is a tiny minority of the population.

A handful of that minority were pressed against the counter of the Tabia cellphone store in Khan Younis on a recent morning. Bombed out of its previous showrooms, Tabia now operates out of a makeshift tentlike structure, with a canvas roof and wooden and metal supports. Its name was printed on an orange and white fabric banner.

It sold everything from budget models, such as the Redmi A5 and POCO C71, both made by China’s Xiaomi, up to the iPhone 17 Pro, which retails for more than $1,000 in the U.S.

The war, border restrictions and general logistics backlogs and chaos meant prices previously spiked to several times the normal market value, according to the store’s owner, Monzer Abou Hamad, as well as customers interviewed by NBC News. However, the influx of phones meant that these prices have since settled down.

“At the moment, there is a high demand for devices, first because of the high school students, and second because education in Gaza has become electronic,” said Hamad.

Phones are compact and profitable, so traders can import them more easily than bulky or restricted items like formula, medical supplies or construction materials, said Eran Yashiv, an Israeli economist who has studied and written extensively about Gaza’s economy.

“A small group of buyers with access to cash creates a market that traders are eager to serve, even while most households face severe shortages,” he said.

The result? “A distorted economy in which luxury goods can appear in shops while essential supplies remain bottlenecked,” he said, “reflecting the chaotic mix of political control, commercial incentives, and humanitarian failure that now characterizes Gaza.”

With the continuing Israeli bombardment disrupting every facet of life — from education and health care to news and entertainment — people in Gaza are increasingly reliant on their screens for information and respite.

“The mobile phone is the only device that conveys the truth to the world, and therefore it is an essential beacon,” said Farid Kabalan, an economist from Khan Younis.

Mohaned Ahmed Abdel Khafour, 20, is a case in point.

“I use my phone for reading, work and everything. Everything needs a phone,” he said. His old device was damaged in the war — “so I had to buy one.”

There is added mistrust from some Palestinians, who see in this rapid arrival of new technology echoes of the mass pager explosions in Lebanon of 2024. Dozens are believed to have been killed, and 1,500 injured, according to Hezbollah, in what was widely interpreted as an intelligence operation by Israel.

“After what happened with the pagers, I personally wouldn’t go anywhere near those phones either,” said Hary at Gisha.