The smuggling of goods restricted by Israel into the Gaza Strip has boomed, with items from cigarettes and iPhones to fuel and solar panels making their way to desperate residents of the tiny coastal territory devastated by a nearly three-year war.
An Associated Press investigation — based on an analysis of Israeli court documents and on interviews with traders, merchants, truckers, officials, and Palestinian residents who face skyrocketing prices for everyday essentials — built a picture of the smuggling market and found that soldiers and other middlemen are accused of pocketing millions of dollars in the illicit trade.
