As Israel tightens its stranglehold on Gaza, a silent economy has emerged from the rubble: bartering. With crossings sealed and goods vanishing from markets, Palestinians are once again trading sugar for flour, lentils for oil, echoes of an older time, revived under siege.

For Um Jad Kanaan, a mother in Gaza, survival now depends on swapping what little she has for what her family needs. In WhatsApp groups, desperation takes digital form. “Four kilos of flour for one kilo of sugar,” her message read. It worked. But not all deals succeed. With fuel scarce and transport nearly impossible, Gaza’s families often can’t reach one another to exchange even basic goods.

Cash is nearly useless, banks are closed, and black market commissions reach 40%. Prices have soared: flour that once cost 3 shekels now sells for up to 100. Amid this chaos, lentils are ground into bread, and social media floods with makeshift ads: dates for diapers, beans for flour, pineapple cans for sugar.

Economists call it a creative response, a form of internal solidarity. But they warn it’s not sustainable. “Bartering mirrors Gaza’s descent into total economic collapse,” says Dr. Nasr Abdel Karim. “It's a symptom of genocide by starvation.”

For Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, the return to bartering isn’t a nostalgic memory, it’s a cry for survival under a blockade designed to suffocate every aspect of life.