Archive August 23, 2025

This is what happens when money dies

You try to buy a kilo of flour in Gaza.

You open your wallet; what’s inside?  A faded 10-shekel note, barely held together by a strip of tape. No one wants it; it is all rubbish now.

The 10-shekel note, normally worth about $3, was once the most commonly used bill in daily life. Now, it is no longer in circulation. Not officially—only practically. It has been worn out beyond recognition. Sellers will not accept it. Buyers cannot use it.

There is no fresh cash. No replenishment.

Other banknotes are following the fate of the 10 shekels, especially the smaller ones.

If you pay with a 100-shekel note for an 80-shekel purchase, the seller will likely be unable to return the remaining 20 due to the poor physical state of the banknotes.

Many notes are torn or taped together, and entire stalls now exist just to repair damaged currency so it can be used again. Anything is better than nothing.

But the disintegration of banknotes is not the only problem we have in Gaza.

Civil servants have gone months without pay. NGOs are unable to transfer salaries to their employees. Families cannot send remittances. What once supported Gaza’s financial structure has vanished. There is no mention of when it will return. Just silence.

Money is stuck. Trapped behind closed systems and political barriers.

If you manage to obtain money from outside sources — perhaps from a cousin in Ramallah or a sibling in Egypt — it comes at a cost. A brutal one. If you get sent 1,000 shekels ($300), the agent will hand you 500. That’s right, the commission rate on cash withdrawals in Gaza is now 50 percent.

There are no banks to offer such withdrawals or oversee transfers.

The signs are still there. Bank of Palestine. Cairo Amman Bank. Al Quds Bank. But the doors are shut, the windows are dusty, and the inside is empty. No ATMs work.

There are only brokers, some with connections to the black market and smugglers, who are somehow able to obtain cash. They take huge cuts to dispense it, in exchange for a bank transfer to their accounts.

Every withdrawal feels like theft disguised as a transaction. Even so, people continue to use this system. They have no choice.

Do you have a bank card? Great. Try using it?

There is no power. There’s no internet. No POS machines. When you show your card to a seller, they shake their head.

People print screenshots of account balances that they cannot access. Some walk around with expired bank documents, hoping someone will think they’re “good enough” as a pay guarantee.

Nobody does.

There are a few sellers who accept so-called “digital wallets”, but those are few, and so are people who have them.

In Gaza today, money you can’t touch is equivalent to no money at all.

And so people have to resort to other means.

At the market, I saw a woman standing with a plastic bag of sugar. Another was holding a bottle of cooking oil. They did not speak much. I just nodded. Traded. Left.

This is what “shopping” in Gaza looks like right now.  Trade what you’ve got. A kilo of lentils for two kilos of flour. A bottle of bleach for some rice. A baby’s jacket for several onions.

There is no stability. One day, your item will be worth something. The next day, nobody wants it. Prices are guesses. Value is emotional. Everything is negotiable.

“I traded my coat for a bag of diapers,” my uncle Waleed, a father of twins, told me. “He looked at me as if I were a beggar. I felt like I was giving up a part of my life.”

This is not a throwback to simpler times. This is what happens when systems disappear. When money dies. When families are forced to sacrifice dignity for survival.

People don’t just suffer—they shrink. They lower their expectations. They stop dreaming. They stop planning. What future can you plan when you can’t afford tomorrow?

“I sold my gold bracelet,” Lina, my neighbour by tent, told me. “It was for emergencies. But now, every day is an emergency.”

Gaza’s economy did not collapse due to bad policy or internal mismanagement. It was broken on purpose.

The occupation has not just blocked goods entering Gaza; it has also blocked currency and with it, any sense of financial control. It has destroyed the banking system. It has made liquidity a weapon.

Cutting off Gaza’s money is part of a larger siege. There is no need to fire a bullet to destroy a people. Simply deny them the ability to live.

You can’t pay for bread, for water, for medicine, so how do you sustain life?

If this trend continues, Gaza will be the first modern society to completely return to barter. There are no salaries. There is no official market. Only personal trades and informal deals. And even those will not last forever. Because what happens when there is nothing left to trade?

If this isn’t addressed, Gaza will be more than just a siege zone. It will be a place where the concepts of money, economy, and fairness will die forever.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy urges Global South to pressure Russia to end war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on countries in the Global South to support diplomatic efforts to push Russia to agree to end its war with Ukraine.

In a social media post following talks with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday, Zelenskyy stressed that the conflict “must be brought to an end” and that “the killings and destruction must be stopped”.

“I reaffirmed my readiness for any format of meeting with the head of Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“However, we see that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further. It is important that the Global South sends relevant signals and pushes Russia toward peace.”

The comments come as a renewed diplomatic effort, spearheaded by United States President Donald Trump with support from European countries, to push Moscow to end its war in Ukraine has appeared to stall.

On Friday, Trump expressed frustration with Moscow over the lack of progress in efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement to end the war, despite his recent meeting with Putin in Alaska.

The US president renewed a threat that he would consider imposing sanctions on Russia if there was no momentum within the next two weeks.

Trump has been trying to arrange a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy, which has long been sought by the Ukrainian leader, to discuss an end to the war.

But on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there were no plans for such a meeting.

Lavrov said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme that Putin had made clear he was ready to meet Zelenskyy, provided there was a proper agenda for such a session, something the Russian foreign minister said was lacking for now.

“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov said.

Amid the push for a diplomatic resolution, fighting has continued to grind on the battlefield.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Telegram on Saturday that its forces in eastern Ukraine had taken two villages in the Donetsk region, Sredneye and Kleban-Byk.

That followed the capture of three other villages in the region a day earlier.

‘Is Trafford really top drawer?’ – Guardiola’s keeper conundrum

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“It’s happened again, it’s happened again, Manchester City, it’s happened again.”

That was the chant bellowed from the Etihad Stadium’s away end at full-time after City were again humbled at home by Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs were scintillating on their visit here last November and inflicted a 4-0 thrashing, but they were given a helping hand on this occasion and it was one they gleefully accepted.

This time it was 2-0. The visiting Spurs contingent, who have suffered as targets of the “it’s happened again” jibe in the past, made sure to enjoy the moment.

Deploying a high defensive line cost Pep Guardiola’s City side the opening goal, while goalkeeper James Trafford did not cover himself in glory for the second in an overall jittery performance on his home debut.

Ederson has been City’s undisputed number one for eight years, but the Brazilian watched on from the bench after missing the Wolves game through illness last weekend amid heavy links with a move to Turkish giants Galatasaray.

What is clear is that Guardiola has a big long-term decision to make about the goalkeeper role.

“James made a good first game and I decided to continue [with him],” said Guardiola, explaining Trafford’s selection.

“The keeper is a special position, of course, to have more consistency in the goal.

“When I take decisions in the first part of the season for all the players who play one or two games, everyone thinks ‘OK this is the starting line-up, these are the players who are going to play’, but with these amount of games, everyone will play.

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Trafford ‘poor’ for second goal

James Trafford with his PFA awards after being named Championship player of the year and selected for the division's team of the yearGetty Images

Trafford was in celebratory mood earlier in the week when he collected the PFA’s Championship player of the year award at the Opera House in Manchester city centre, reward for his performances in the second tier for Burnley.

The 22-year-old kept 29 clean sheets in the league last season for the Clarets, and after joining City he was quickly on song, as Guardiola pointed out, in the opening win at Wolves.

But this was a different story, a difficult first showing in a City shirt at Etihad Stadium.

Trafford came through the City ranks and rejoined the club for £27m from Burnley this summer having not made a senior appearance in his first spell.

He will have been dreaming of playing Premier League football for City at the Etihad, but it turned into an uncomfortable afternoon, Trafford slipping away from centre stage at the final whistle with songs from joyful Spurs fans ringing in his ears.

Guardiola has turned to youth in his rebuild.

Saturday’s team, with an average age of 24 years and 326 days, was the youngest starting XI named by the Spaniard in the Premier League and they have plenty to learn.

Tottenham’s Richarlison pressed relentlessly all game and forced Trafford into conceding a corner, while the keeper was lucky not to be dismissed for a collision on the edge of the box with Spurs winger Mohammed Kudus.

And at 1-0 behind, with the crowd beginning to get anxious, those shaky moments then turned into a calamity as Trafford played a loose pass inside the area to Ruben Dias, who failed to control, and Joao Palhinha eventually smashed in.

City failed to recover, slipping to defeat in their first home game of the campaign.

“City were well beaten today,” former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I’ve got to say I’m not sure about the goalkeeper situation.

“Is James Trafford really top drawer? If it’s a choice between Trafford and Ederson, I’m going with Ederson.

Goalkeeping decision to make for Guardiola

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Paris St-Germain’s Gianluigi Donnarumma is rumoured to be of interest to City and sources have not totally ruled out a move for the Italian, but it would need Ederson to move on.

Guardiola, though, now has a decision to make as to whether he sticks with Trafford, brings Ederson back into the fold, or sells the Brazilian and signs Donnarumma.

The manager seems unsure himself, having said before the start of the season that Ederson was his number one, but then on Friday saying he will pick “who trains good”.

Trafford was given the nod, but the decision raises more questions than answers.

Similar to counterpart Ruben Amorim across the city, the managers of both Manchester clubs each have a goalkeeping conundrum to deal with if they are to claw their way back to the top.

“There was a lot of talk after week one that this Man City team were back,” former Everton midfielder Leon Osman said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I think this lets everybody take a step back and reassess that.

Related topics

  • Premier League
  • Manchester City
  • Football

‘Is Trafford really top drawer?’ – Guardiola’s keeper conundrum

Getty Images
  • Comments

“It’s happened again, it’s happened again, Manchester City, it’s happened again.”

That was the chant bellowed from the Etihad Stadium’s away end at full-time after City were again humbled at home by Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs were scintillating on their visit here last November and inflicted a 4-0 thrashing, but they were given a helping hand on this occasion and it was one they gleefully accepted.

This time it was 2-0. The visiting Spurs contingent, who have suffered as targets of the “it’s happened again” jibe in the past, made sure to enjoy the moment.

Deploying a high defensive line cost Pep Guardiola’s City side the opening goal, while goalkeeper James Trafford did not cover himself in glory for the second in an overall jittery performance on his home debut.

Ederson has been City’s undisputed number one for eight years, but the Brazilian watched on from the bench after missing the Wolves game through illness last weekend amid heavy links with a move to Turkish giants Galatasaray.

What is clear is that Guardiola has a big long-term decision to make about the goalkeeper role.

“James made a good first game and I decided to continue [with him],” said Guardiola, explaining Trafford’s selection.

“The keeper is a special position, of course, to have more consistency in the goal.

“When I take decisions in the first part of the season for all the players who play one or two games, everyone thinks ‘OK this is the starting line-up, these are the players who are going to play’, but with these amount of games, everyone will play.

Trafford ‘poor’ for second goal

James Trafford with his PFA awards after being named Championship player of the year and selected for the division's team of the yearGetty Images

Trafford was in celebratory mood earlier in the week when he collected the PFA’s Championship player of the year award at the Opera House in Manchester city centre, reward for his performances in the second tier for Burnley.

The 22-year-old kept 29 clean sheets in the league last season for the Clarets, and after joining City he was quickly on song, as Guardiola pointed out, in the opening win at Wolves.

But this was a different story, a difficult first showing in a City shirt at Etihad Stadium.

Trafford came through the City ranks and rejoined the club for £27m from Burnley this summer having not made a senior appearance in his first spell.

He will have been dreaming of playing Premier League football for City at the Etihad, but it turned into an uncomfortable afternoon, Trafford slipping away from centre stage at the final whistle with songs from joyful Spurs fans ringing in his ears.

Guardiola has turned to youth in his rebuild.

Saturday’s team, with an average age of 24 years and 326 days, was the youngest starting XI named by the Spaniard in the Premier League and they have plenty to learn.

Tottenham’s Richarlison pressed relentlessly all game and forced Trafford into conceding a corner, while the keeper was lucky not to be dismissed for a collision on the edge of the box with Spurs winger Mohammed Kudus.

And at 1-0 behind, with the crowd beginning to get anxious, those shaky moments then turned into a calamity as Trafford played a loose pass inside the area to Ruben Dias, who failed to control, and Joao Palhinha eventually smashed in.

City failed to recover, slipping to defeat in their first home game of the campaign.

“City were well beaten today,” former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I’ve got to say I’m not sure about the goalkeeper situation.

“Is James Trafford really top drawer? If it’s a choice between Trafford and Ederson, I’m going with Ederson.

Goalkeeping decision to make for Guardiola

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Paris St-Germain’s Gianluigi Donnarumma is rumoured to be of interest to City and sources have not totally ruled out a move for the Italian, but it would need Ederson to move on.

Guardiola, though, now has a decision to make as to whether he sticks with Trafford, brings Ederson back into the fold, or sells the Brazilian and signs Donnarumma.

The manager seems unsure himself, having said before the start of the season that Ederson was his number one, but then on Friday saying he will pick “who trains good”.

Trafford was given the nod, but the decision raises more questions than answers.

Similar to counterpart Ruben Amorim across the city, the managers of both Manchester clubs each have a goalkeeping conundrum to deal with if they are to claw their way back to the top.

“There was a lot of talk after week one that this Man City team were back,” former Everton midfielder Leon Osman said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I think this lets everybody take a step back and reassess that.

Related topics

  • Premier League
  • Manchester City
  • Football

Ethical Diamond leads Irish 1-2-3 in Ebor at York

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Ethical Diamond won the Ebor Handicap at York in a 1-2-3 for Irish-trained horses.

The 5-1 favourite, under William Buick for trainer Willie Mullins, came home first under the stands side in the £500,000 contest, the richest flat handicap race in Europe.

Henry de Bromhead’s Ascending was second, with Queenstown third for Aidan O’Brien.

Stressfree, running for David O’Meara, finished fourth.

Ethical Diamond, who also won the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, was installed immediately after the Ebor as favourite for the Melbourne Cup in November.

But Mullins said the horse – who has a screw inserted in one leg after an injury – was unlikely to pass heightened safety protocols for the Australia race.

Buick said: “I’ve never won the Ebor before but I’ve never had such a good ride.”

Earlier, hot favourite Rosallion could only finish fourth as Never So Brave won the Group One City Of York Stakes.

The 7-2 favourite, ridden by Oisin Murphy for trainer Andrew Balding, held off Lake Forest, with Maranoa Charlie third.

Related topics

  • Horse Racing

Ethical Diamond leads Irish 1-2-3 in Ebor at York

PA Media
  • Comments

Ethical Diamond won the Ebor Handicap at York in a 1-2-3 for Irish-trained horses.

The 5-1 favourite, under William Buick for trainer Willie Mullins, came home first under the stands side in the £500,000 contest, the richest flat handicap race in Europe.

Henry de Bromhead’s Ascending was second, with Queenstown third for Aidan O’Brien.

Stressfree, running for David O’Meara, finished fourth.

Ethical Diamond, who also won the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, was installed immediately after the Ebor as favourite for the Melbourne Cup in November.

But Mullins said the horse – who has a screw inserted in one leg after an injury – was unlikely to pass heightened safety protocols for the Australia race.

Buick said: “I’ve never won the Ebor before but I’ve never had such a good ride.”

Earlier, hot favourite Rosallion could only finish fourth as Never So Brave won the Group One City Of York Stakes.

The 7-2 favourite, ridden by Oisin Murphy for trainer Andrew Balding, held off Lake Forest, with Maranoa Charlie third.

Related topics

  • Horse Racing