GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a surprising move, the Ministry of Finance this month unilaterally imposed in Gaza — which is effectively controlled by the leaders of the former Hamas government — several new taxes on more than 50 kinds of goods imported into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom border crossing. These goods include medicines, clothes, food, medical and electrical equipment and construction tools.

The first of their kind, the taxes imposed by the Gaza Ministry of Finance range between 1,500 to 5,000 shekels ($381 to $1,271). Merchants, vendors and citizens condemned this measure as taxes added to their burden in the dire economic conditions plaguing the Gaza Strip.

Pharmacist Ibrahim Shaath, who's affected by the decision, said that pharmaceutical warehouses and companies informed all pharmacists in the Gaza Strip that the ministries imposed a new tax on them of 2.5%.

“There is a problem between the rulers in Gaza and the companies that import medicines from the West Bank and Israel, as this tax has been added to the total invoice value. When we asked the manager of a pharmaceutical warehouse what this percentage meant, he said that the tax represented 20% of the profit, and this is a large percentage compared to our profit margin, which does not exceed 15%,” he told Al-Monitor.