Five Palestinian companies and an Egyptian firm profited from aid operations as civilians in Gaza starved due to Israel’s siege and genocide
News Desk - The Cradle
Last year, Egypt-based Palestinian businessmen met with Sinai businessman Ibrahim al-Argany and expressed discontent with the aid mechanism for Gaza among Palestinian traders and citizens – which “created a state of monopoly and a lack of competition that contributed to price increases,” the outlet says, citing a report sent by Palestinian National Economy Minister Mohamed al-Amour to Prime Minister Mohammad Mostafa in April 2024.
The report reveals discussions held in the meeting last year between Argany and the Palestinian businessmen.
Discussions focused on the monopoly held by the five companies – specifically over the import of goods through the Rafah border crossing. The import of these goods took place in cooperation with Argany’s Sons of Sinai company, in exchange for “extortionate fees collected by several parties.”
The process became known as “goods coordination,” the report goes on to say.
Argany noted that the approval of these five Palestinian firms “came at the behest of Israel, and that he will work to amend and expand the list of [company] names with the official entities that coordinate with the Israeli side.”
“Since Palestinian traders receive huge sums from this trade (due to monopoly) and profit from it, why can’t Sons of Sinai profit as well??!!!,” Argany added, defending his position on the price increases.
The report says that the profits made from the “goods coordination” process are huge.
“Behind this monopoly scheme stands a network of businessmen who profit from the widespread starvation and destitution that Palestinians in Gaza suffer. From his side, Argany controls what is known as the ‘Egyptian line,’ while others control the ‘Israeli line.’ Both sides have reaped staggering profits under this complicated system that has undergone several changes in the past two years but remains under complete Israeli control,” Mada Masr reveals.
At the start of the war, Argany’s Sons of Sinai firm was the only one equipped with the infrastructure capable of managing the storage and transportation of humanitarian aid.
This system was established years prior to the genocide in Gaza. At the time, the company charged up to $5,000 for each truck of aid that entered the strip.
When aid deliveries resumed at the start of the genocide, international aid groups and donor states relied on Sons of Sinai to deliver supplies into Gaza.
However, “no amount of aid passing through this system was even close enough to meeting the needs of the people,” the report stressed.
“All the commercial goods that entered the strip in the first few months of the war – after they were greenlit in January 2024 – came from Egypt,” Gaza Governorate Chamber of Commerce head Ayed Abu Ramadan told Mada Masr.
“The five Palestinian companies – which hold Israeli permits – communicated their requests for goods to Sons of Sinai, which then handled everything related to the procurement, shipping, and transport of the goods and arranged their entry through the crossings,” he added.
The five firms charged Gaza traders up to $25,000 for each aid truck. Per truck, Sons of Sinai was earning up to $13,000.
The Mada Masr report comes as the aid flow in Gaza remains critically low, two months into a ceasefire which was meant to see 600 trucks enter the strip a day.
Israel has carried out at least 738 violations of the Gaza ceasefire, killing nearly 400 people since it went into effect in October this year, the Government Media Office in the strip revealed in a report on 9 September.
It added that an average of only 226 fuel and aid trucks have entered Gaza per day, out of the 500 required in the ceasefire deal – constituting just 10 percent of the agreed-upon amount.
“Only 13,511 trucks out of the 36,000 trucks supposed to enter Gaza have actually done so during the 60-day period.”
By the start of last month, Tel Aviv had only allowed in 28 percent of the aid that was meant to enter the strip as part of the agreement, the Government Media Office said in November.
This includes essential equipment urgently needed for rubble removal operations.
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