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Planet Money

In Gaza, money is falling apart

with Alaldeen Sheikh Khalid, Mohamed Awad

Published September 20, 2025
View Show Notes

About This Episode

Planet Money follows two best friends from Gaza, Alaldeen Sheikh Khalid in Belgium and Mohamed Awad still in Gaza, as they piece together an improvised financial pipeline to move usable Israeli shekels into Gaza despite a blockade on cash and a barely functioning banking and internet infrastructure. Through their project Impossible Light and the story of a young woman named Haya living in a tent camp, the episode shows how extreme cash shortages, destroyed infrastructure, and war-driven scarcity have turned money itself into a scarce and damaged commodity, inflating prices and spawning a market where people literally "buy money with money" just to obtain physical cash. The episode details how this system works in practice, from international donors to Palestinian bank accounts to cash brokers and cash repairers, and what that means for ordinary Gazans trying to secure basics like food, tents, diapers, and milk.

Topics Covered

Israel-Palestine conflict Financial inclusion Informal economy Inflation Remittances Poverty and inequality Humanitarian aid logistics Cash shortage Banking system War and empire

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Quick Takeaways

  • Gaza uses the Israeli shekel, but since Israel stopped allowing physical cash shipments into Gaza, the limited bills inside the strip have been circulating for nearly two years, becoming physically degraded and scarce.
  • Because electronic bank transfers are unreliable and many people lack bank accounts, physical cash has become so valuable that Gazans pay up to a 50% fee to convert digital balances into paper shekels through local cash brokers.
  • Friends Alaldeen in Belgium and Mohamed in Gaza run a project called Impossible Light that circumvents formal remittance barriers by swapping donated funds with Palestinians abroad who already hold shekels in Palestinian bank accounts.
  • Transfers within the Palestinian banking system-from one Palestinian account to another-are instant and fee-free, making a shared Palestinian account the central hub of their operation.
  • Once money reaches Mohamed's account in Gaza, he still must spend days negotiating with cash brokers, paying high fees, and finding intact banknotes before he can buy scarce items like diapers, tents, and food.
  • Extreme scarcity and danger around aid have produced markets for stolen humanitarian goods and for taking on the risk of collecting aid, further driving up prices for basics.
  • Prices for essential goods in Gaza have exploded: diapers that once cost about $6 now cost $75, a kilo of tomatoes can cost $32, and the price of flour has reportedly risen by 5,000%.
  • Haya, a 23-year-old student living in a tent camp, describes buying money with money, eating a single carbohydrate-heavy meal a day, and walking hours just to access electricity and internet to study and tell her story.
  • Despite destruction, hunger, and constant fear of losing loved ones, Haya continues her university studies online and consciously holds on to hope for graduation and rebuilding Gaza.
  • The episode shows how, in a war zone with a cash blockade, even being "rich" in nominal terms can be meaningless when both physical cash and actual goods to buy are absent.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and friendship between Alaldeen and Mohamed

Reunion call between two best friends

Host joins a call between old friends Alaldeen Sheikh Khalid and Mohamed Awad[0:34]
• They greet each other warmly after not seeing each other in 11 years but speaking daily by phone
Mutual descriptions of their deep bond[0:57]
• Mohamed says they talk every day and calls Alaldeen his best friend, brother, and "everything that I need"
• Alaldeen says Mohamed is the best human he knows and that when bad things happen, Mohamed becomes even more important in his soul

Nicknames and high school memories

Their nicknames for each other[1:21]
• Al-Aldin is called Alaa or "Al-Prince" (the prince)
• Mohamed is called "Modi" and also had the nickname "Al-Maestro"
Walking to school together in Gaza[2:14]
• They grew up together in Gaza and in high school Mohamed walked past Alaa's house on the way to school
• Every morning Alaa would wait for Modi and they would walk together
• They remember a man opening his store in the morning to sell falafel, hummus, and ful in small sandwiches to students, which they recall as their daily breakfast

Gaza then and now: war, destruction, and missing cash

How their old routine is impossible today

Physical separation of the two friends[1:33]
• Today Al-Aldin is in Belgium and Mohamed is stuck in Gaza, so they cannot walk together to school anymore
Collapse of normal life in Gaza[2:27]
• Kids in Gaza have not gone to formal school in almost two years
• Ninety percent of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed
• A UN-backed panel has declared famine in parts of Gaza, documenting widespread starvation, though Israel disputes this

Gaza's use of the Israeli shekel and the cash blockade

Shared currency with Israel before the war[3:03]
• When they bought falafel before, they paid with cash in cheap coins and shekels, sometimes one shekel
• Shekels are the Israeli currency, and Gaza also uses the Israeli shekel
• Al-Aldin says that for a while sharing currency with Israel was good for Gaza and calls the shekel a strong currency
Israel's halt on physical shekel shipments into Gaza[3:32]
• Israel stopped letting physical shekels into Gaza almost two years ago when the war started
• No new cash or coins have been allowed to enter Gaza
• There are currently no bank branches or ATMs operating in Gaza
Cash shortage as another critical scarcity[4:12]
• In addition to all other shortages in Gaza, there is also not enough money in the form of cash
• Whatever paper cash was in Gaza before the war is basically all that has been circulating for two years, so the bills are faded and fraying
• Host describes that "money in Gaza is falling apart" both literally and functionally

Central question of the episode

Practical problem facing the two friends[4:17]
• Al-Aldin in Belgium is trying to get Israeli shekels into Mohamed's bank account in Gaza
• Mohamed in Gaza is trying to convert that bank money into cash to buy necessities
Framing the main economic question[4:26]
• Host asks how you turn money in the bank into cash when there are no banks, almost no electricity, spotty internet, and limited goods for sale

Origins and goals of the Impossible Light project

Diverging paths of the two friends and initial motivation

Why Al-Aldin started thinking about getting money into Gaza[7:06]
• Al-Aldin could pay to evacuate some of his family early in the war, but Mohamed could not leave Gaza in time
• Unable to stop thinking about Mohamed and Gaza, Al-Aldin began asking what he could get into Gaza instead of people
Restrictions on sending physical goods and cash[7:18]
• He cannot send food or packages because Israel controls the flow of anything into Gaza
• The Israeli military says it is not letting cash in to prevent Hamas from buying weapons or paying fighters
• UN experts have called the resulting situation a severe economic emergency and pushed for an end to the cash blockade
• The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank also stopped cash shipments to Gaza because of robberies

Design and purpose of Impossible Light

Project concept and what people actually want[7:49]
• Last year, Al-Aldin decided he might get money in for family, friends, and friends of friends still in Gaza
• He emphasizes that people are not looking for money as such, but for urgent needs
• Their project, which they call Impossible Light, aims to get money into Gaza so Mohamed can buy items like formula, tents, diapers, and water to give away for free
Distribution model inside Gaza[8:20]
• Mohamed directly gives families tents and food, rather than handing out cash

Haya's life in a Gaza tent camp and the experience of cash scarcity

Introduction to Haya and her living conditions

Who Haya is and where she lives[8:21]
• Haya is from Gaza Strip and lives in a camp in Gaza, in Almawasi, in a tent
• Almawasi tent camp is one of the few remaining places where people can stay in Gaza and is crowded beyond imagination
Loss of her home and contrast with former life[9:42]
• When asked for pictures of her home now, Haya answers that she does not have a home, only a tent
• Inside the tent there are eight mattress pads on the floor and belongings covered under a red cloth to make the place pretty
• She prefers showing photos of her old house and life, including a large house and her fluffy white cat Mimi, whom she hopes is still there
• Haya misses her room, her poetry books, having a door, quiet, and baking

Work, economy, and barter in wartime Gaza

Collapse of regular employment[10:43]
• Haya says there is no job in Gaza now; her father was a farmer but 98.5% of cropland in Gaza is damaged, inaccessible, or both
• Her mother was a teacher, but there is no more school, so typical jobs have disappeared
• She describes aid-related work as the only remaining relatively reliable way to make money
Use of barter and mobile banking[11:43]
• People often barter to get what they need, such as selling extra lentils or chickpeas from their tent
• Payment for these goods can be made via mobile banking, transferring money from one Palestinian bank account to another
• People in Gaza have been seeking money via crowdfunding sites and even by calling random phone numbers in the West Bank asking strangers to deposit money
Limits of digital money in wartime conditions[12:00]
• Israel cut off electricity to Gaza except for one line powering two water desalination plants, according to the Israeli military
• There are some solar panels and backup generators, but internet access is limited
• Bank transfers do not always go through when needed, and not everyone had bank accounts before the war
• This makes physical paper money more valuable because you can hold it and use it more reliably

Buying money with money: the cash broker system

Haya's limited cash and how she obtained it[12:38]
• Haya says her family currently has 200 shekels in cash, about $59
• They treat any cash they get as a valuable possession, keeping it in a bag and always leaving one person in the tent to guard it if the rest go out
• She explains that she paid $118 to obtain that $59 worth of shekels in cash
Role of cash brokers and the 50% fee[13:37]
• Because there is not enough cash in Gaza, people with bank balances must find others who physically have a lot of cash and are willing to sell it
• These people are called cash brokers or money changers, and the fee they charge is typically 50%
• Example: if Haya goes to a money exchanger with 100 shekels in her bank account and transfers it to his bank account, he gives her only 50 shekels in cash
• Even though she already has shekels in her account and just wants them in physical bills, she must pay this 50% fee
• Before the war, withdrawing 100 shekels from the bank would have given her 100 shekels cash; now "we buy money with money"

Food scarcity, dangerous aid, and extreme price inflation

Limited food intake and loss of variety[15:23]
• Despite having 200 shekels, Haya and her family eat only once a day, typically spaghetti
• Their diet is mostly carbohydrates without vegetables or fruit
• She says fruits have completely disappeared, vegetables are almost gone, and when they appear they are very expensive
Aid flows, theft, and risk pricing[16:11]
• In some parts of Gaza, people can occasionally grow vegetables and sell them in makeshift markets, but much of what is sold is food, medicine, and supplies that arrived as aid from other countries and charities
• Some of this aid is stolen and then sold, even though humanitarian aid is supposed to be distributed for free
• Al-Aldin says people who sell aid are contributing to the starvation of their own people
• The UN Human Rights Office says about 1,400 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food since May, nearly all by Israeli fire, whereas Israel has said it has only fired warning shots near aid distribution sites
• Al-Aldin describes that people who go to collect aid need to be in good shape and "ready to die," and that some have turned this risk-taking into a job and charge for it
Explosive inflation for basic goods[16:33]
• Haya says the war and cash shortages have inflated prices, with a kilo of tomatoes costing about $32
• Her family sometimes buys sugar by the gram, paying around $6 for just enough for their family to use once
• She reports that over the spring, the price of cooking oil increased 1,200% and the price of flour increased 5,000%
• The price of a tent is around 3,000 shekels, about $900, after she initially misstates it as 30,000 and corrects herself
Search for milk for Haya's sister[18:10]
• When asked about milk, Haya explains that her little sister Leyan asked her to buy milk if she can find it
• Haya plans to search for milk after the interview, possibly powdered milk
• She refers repeatedly to "my Leyan," who is 10 years old and very important to her

Emotional toll and daily expressions of love

Family losses and fear[18:40]
• Haya says the Israeli military has killed many people in her family, including cousins, aunts, her best friend, and a poetry professor she cared about
• She says she is always scared of losing her family
Daily ritual of hugging and saying "I love you"[19:18]
• Every morning, Haya hugs her mother, father, and siblings, including her little sister Leyan, and tells them she loves them
• After the interview, she goes to look for milk for her sister, connecting her emotional life directly to economic scarcity

How Impossible Light moves money into Gaza without direct bank wires

Structure of the project and role division

Overview of donation campaigns and roles[22:33]
• Impossible Light has a website and crowdfunding campaigns raising money for milk, diapers, bathrooms, and water pipes
• Mohamed in Gaza is responsible for buying supplies and distributing them, while Al-Aldin in Belgium focuses on getting him the money
• Al-Aldin and his wife Tammy, a self-described white American from Alaska, seek donors around the world

Barriers to directly wiring money into Gaza

Regulatory and banking constraints[23:59]
• You cannot easily or regularly go into banks in Belgium, the U.S., or Egypt and deposit donations into a Gaza resident's account
• Gaza has been run by Hamas for almost two decades, and many countries classify Hamas as a terrorist group, leading to strict rules against financing terrorism via banks
• Even major humanitarian organizations vet recipients before sending funds
Example of remittances and blocks[24:41]
• A Gazan American reports wiring money through Bank of America many times, especially to relatives with the same last name or where documents prove the relationship
• When she tried to send to relatives with different last names, money was sometimes frozen and returned
• She says the blocking was not done by the U.S. bank or by Israel, but by the Bank of Palestine where her relatives bank
• A source at Bank of Palestine says they try to facilitate as many transactions as possible while applying robust anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures in line with regulators and partners
• The Palestinian banking sector is described as known for being very strict to avoid accusations of financing terrorism
Why Al-Aldin avoids direct international wire transfers[25:32]
• Al-Aldin says his bank in Belgium told him he could make a wire transfer to Gaza one time
• He notes that wires incur international transfer fees, and because of the many existing fees and huge prices inside Gaza, he wants every penny possible to reach people there

Swapping money with Palestinians abroad who hold shekels

Core strategy: locate shekels already in Palestinian bank accounts[25:57]
• Instead of wiring, he swaps money with people worldwide who have shekels sitting in Palestinian accounts but no longer live in Gaza or the West Bank
• He says they are always looking for anyone with money in any Palestinian bank account
• The trick is to find people who already have shekels in Palestinian accounts and trade them for euros, pounds, yen, dollars, or whatever currency those people now use
Example of a swap with Mustafa[27:09]
• He shows a real example where 150 shekels arrived in his relative's Palestinian account from someone named Mustafa
• Mustafa lives in Egypt and had 150 Israeli shekels in a Palestinian account but needed Egyptian pounds
• Al-Aldin offered to give Mustafa the equivalent amount in Egyptian pounds (using donated funds) in exchange for Mustafa transferring his 150 shekels into Al-Aldin's Palestinian account
• He says if Mustafa does not charge him any fee, he does not charge Mustafa, so there is no exchange fee in these swaps
• 150 shekels is about $45, and they gather even such small amounts to combine them
Using a relative's Palestinian account as the hub[28:25]
• Al-Aldin has a relative who evacuated Gaza but kept their Palestinian bank account, and this account serves as the central account for their project
• He collects shekels from people like Mustafa into this account and then transfers them to Mohamed's Palestinian bank account in Gaza
• Transfers between Palestinian bank accounts-such as from Mustafa in Egypt to Alaa's relative in Turkey to Mohamed in Gaza-are instant and fee-free
Concerns about misuse and their response[27:53]
• Al-Aldin assumes their transfers are being watched and tracked, and he is comfortable with that because he only sends money to Mohamed, whom he trusts
• He anticipates that people may wonder whether money is being diverted to terrorist groups and responds that they give food and diapers, questioning how diapers could be used for terrorism

Mohamed's challenges converting digital balances to usable cash and goods

Living conditions and family life for Mohamed

From tents to a damaged house[29:25]
• Mohamed currently stays in a relative's house whose exterior walls are largely destroyed so you can see into neighboring homes, making it loud
• He had been living in a tent for years, but about 20 days prior, the army came to their camp and destroyed everything, including their tents
Interaction with his children[29:59]
• The host notes a heaviness in Mohamed's voice except when he interacts with his children Ahmed and Mariam
• He calls his four-year-old daughter Mariam "my heart" and introduces Ahmed, who is two and called a baby

Diaper prices and financial mechanics around purchases

Exploding cost of diapers[30:37]
• Before the war, Mohamed and his wife Wala paid about $6 for a pack of diapers for Mariam
• Now a pack of diapers costs about $75
Fees when using bank transfers instead of cash[30:57]
• Even if Mohamed finds someone willing to accept a bank transfer for diapers instead of cash, there is often a fee
• An NPR producer in Gaza reports that the current fee for such transactions is about 40%, because the recipient will eventually have to pay to turn that bank balance into cash

Physical degradation of currency and cash repair

Damaged bills becoming worthless[31:32]
• Mohamed says cash in Gaza has become hurt and destroyed, and sellers may refuse to accept it
• Badly damaged notes can become effectively worthless because merchants will not take them
Emergence of cash repair services[31:34]
• There are now cash repair people who attempt to repair tattered banknotes for a fee
• Mohamed therefore needs to find not just cash, but cash in good enough physical condition for others to accept

Search for cash brokers and dynamics of the cash market

Difficulty finding cash even at high cost[32:02]
• Mohamed looks for cash brokers, sometimes in makeshift markets, to convert bank balances into cash
• He recalls trying to buy winter clothes for people and spending about five days looking for someone willing to sell him cash
• He may need to make many calls or search on Facebook to locate a cash broker
Cash price fluctuates with conditions on the ground[32:26]
• The market for cash behaves like other markets, with the "price" (fee) changing constantly based on events in Gaza
• During ceasefires or when Israel allows more food and aid in, the fee for cash may drop below 20% because free or widely available food reduces the need for cash purchases
• When Israel does not let enough food in and food is scarce and expensive, demand for cash rises and fees for cash skyrocket
• Mohamed says it is very hard to accept this costly way of obtaining cash but he sees no alternative
Negotiating better rates and persistent shortages of goods[32:59]
• Al-Aldin says Mohamed is very good at negotiating better rates on shekels than the current market rate
• Mohamed reports that in their last deal, they obtained cash at a 20% fee, which they consider a very good rate
• However, even when Mohamed manages to secure cash, there are periods when essential items like diapers are simply unavailable in the markets
• For four to five days at one point, he says there were no diapers in the markets, so having money did not guarantee access to what was needed
• He and Al-Aldin conclude that even being the richest person in Gaza would mean little if there is nothing to buy

Broader humanitarian context, contested narratives, and hope

Man-made famine and competing interpretations

Links between blockades, shortages, and black markets[34:06]
• The host notes that markets for cash and stolen aid would not exist if Israel allowed enough food or money in; these markets exist because of shortages
• The UN has called the famine in Gaza man-made, which Israel rejects
UN genocide report and Israel's response[34:31]
• A report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Office says Israel's policies meet the definition of genocide, alleging Israel is deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction of the Gazan population
• Israel calls the report distorted and anti-Semitic and says it relies on Hamas falsehoods

Emotional dissonance of life in Gaza vs. life online

Continuing efforts by Impossible Light[34:39]
• Al-Eldin and Mohamed say they continue doing the little they can to help keep people alive
Mariam's YouTube cooking videos vs. empty markets[34:59]
• People in Gaza are cut off physically but can still see life going on elsewhere online
• Mohamed's daughter Mariam watches YouTube cooking shows and runs to her father asking him to buy peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other ingredients she sees
• Mohamed says that near him there is no fruit, no vegetables, no meat, and no cleaning supplies in the markets

Haya's effort to communicate and maintain her studies and hope

Difficulties just to make a phone or video call[35:41]
• Haya did not find milk on the day she first went searching after the interview
• She asked that her full name not be used so she can speak freely about her situation
• Phone conversations with her are hard to arrange because of unreliable service, and she must go to a place with good internet
• To talk with the host, Haya paid three shekels to charge her laptop on someone's solar panel and 15 shekels to use the internet at a place two hours away from her camp, which she reached on foot
Documenting prices and continuing her education[36:35]
• Haya has sent videos of herself looking for food, buying it, and explaining how much she paid on a given day
• Before the war, she was majoring in English literature and minoring in translation at the Islamic University of Gaza, and she remains enrolled, now taking classes online
• She says she was studying for a midterm exam during this period
Haya's commitment to hope[37:11]
• Haya says she holds onto hope and calls it the only thing Israel cannot take from her
• She lists hopes for a good future, for the war to stop, for her graduation, and for rebuilding Gaza
• About three weeks after her initial search, she messages the host to say she has finally found some milk

Credits and acknowledgments

Production credits and thanks

Editorial and production team[37:49]
• The episode was edited by Marianne McKeown and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez
• It was produced by Sam Yellow Horse Kessler and engineered by Sina Lefredo, James Willits, and Robert Rodriguez
• Alex Goldmark is the executive producer
Additional thanks[38:11]
• Special thanks are given to interpreter and translator Jawad Rizkala and to others including Gada El-Najjar, Raja Khalidi, Hadi Amr, NPR's Daniel Estrin in Israel, and Anas Baba in Gaza, along with their editor James Heider
• Host Sarah Gonzalez signs off and thanks listeners

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

In fragile or crisis situations, the practical value of money depends less on nominal balances and more on the reliability of the infrastructure that lets you convert, move, and physically use it.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where in your own life or work are you assuming that infrastructure (payments, logistics, communication) will always function, and what would break if it suddenly didn't?
  • • How might you redesign your financial habits or business processes so that they are less dependent on a single channel or system working perfectly?
  • • What is one concrete step you could take this month to add redundancy or backup options for critical financial or operational flows you rely on?
2

Scarcity and risk radically reshape markets, creating new intermediaries and fees that can siphon value away from end users, even when everyone involved feels they have no choice.

Reflection Questions:

  • • In what areas of your life or business are you paying a "scarcity premium"-higher prices, fees, or compromises-simply because you feel you have no alternatives?
  • • How could you map the intermediaries between your resources and your goals to identify where most value is being lost or extracted?
  • • What is one relationship, process, or market you rely on where negotiating, pooling resources, or finding a different structure could reduce the hidden cost of scarcity?
3

Informal networks and trust-based relationships can sometimes route around rigid institutions, but they require deliberate design, transparency, and personal credibility to remain sustainable.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Who are the people in your network that you would trust with sensitive tasks or resources, and what have you done to earn that level of trust with them?
  • • How might you design a small, transparent system with friends or colleagues to solve a problem that formal institutions make difficult or slow to address?
  • • What specific practices (clear records, open communication, third-party verification) could you adopt to keep any informal arrangements you rely on trustworthy over time?
4

Extreme constraints force prioritization toward essentials and highlight how often, in normal circumstances, resources are spent on things that don't truly matter.

Reflection Questions:

  • • If you had to cut your spending or time commitments down to the true essentials, what would remain and what would disappear?
  • • How can you use the perspective of someone living with severe constraints to re-evaluate which of your current expenses or projects are actually meaningful?
  • • What is one area this week where you could consciously redirect resources from a nonessential toward something that would significantly improve your resilience or well-being?
5

Maintaining a sense of purpose and hope-like continuing to study or help others-can be a powerful stabilizer in chaotic environments and can guide better decisions under stress.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What long-term purpose or project in your life would you still care about even if your circumstances became much more difficult?
  • • How might defining or revisiting a personal mission statement change the way you respond to current pressures or setbacks?
  • • What is one hopeful, constructive action you could take this week that aligns with your deeper values, even if external conditions aren't favorable?

Episode Summary - Notes by Reese

In Gaza, money is falling apart
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