After 71,000 deaths, Israel worries about smoking in Gaza

After more than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 99 per cent of Gaza’s neighbourhoods destroyed, and hundreds of thousands displaced or starving, Israel has suddenly discovered a “serious threat” to the people of the Strip: smoking.

Yes, smoking. According to Nahum Barnea, a columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth, the “coordinator of operations in the territories,” who decides what goods enter Gaza, has ruled that cigarettes are not humanitarian items because they are “harmful to health.” The writer sarcastically noted that this wave of “humanitarian concern” almost moved him to tears.

In Gaza, where people die from bombing, hunger, cold, bleeding, or being trapped under rubble, Israel has now decided to add a “moral reason” to their deaths: why are you dying from smoking?

The reasoning, according to Israeli ethics, is simple. Bombing is allowed. Starvation is acceptable. Destroying hospitals is a security necessity. But cigarettes are a “red line.” Smoking, as Barnea wrote, is “harmful to health” and therefore does not qualify as humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, polluted water, lack of medicine, and disease outbreaks are considered secondary issues and apparently do not count as a “health risk.”

Ironically, the columnist admits that thousands of aid trucks have been damaged, smuggled, or taxed because of Israel’s own restrictions.

There is also a more serious reason for banning tobacco: money. Cigarettes are sold through traders, and Israel fears that Hamas might tax them. In other words, their entry could generate profit. Here, fake humanitarian concerns end, and real political and aggressive considerations begin.

As a result of this so-called “health caution,” the price of a single cigarette in Gaza has risen to $15, and a pack costs $300, according to a report in Israel Hayom.

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