Children stand at the door of a chocolate factory in Gaza City waiting to receive a "carbohydrate", a kind of candy in the shape of a heart, in the "bridegroom" factory, and despite the obstacles of the embargo and the export ban, there are "sweet" products that vary from small chocolate bars, all the way to To a copy of the local "Nutella" cream.
A factory worker, on Dirt Street, handles children waiting outside for free sweets. "Crumbo" or "winter", as the Gazans call it, is a dessert made of biscuits topped with cream-coated chocolate.
Inside the factory, you can hear the machinery that comes out thin biscuit pieces, or knead the chocolate.
Factories in Gaza, most of which are located in the Karni or Karni area near the border with Israel, depend on raw materials and components imported from Israel and other countries. The same applies to the "carmbo" from which cocoa is made from Argentina, sugar from African countries, and dried eggs from the Netherlands.
The factory produces other types of sweets and citrus. The rest of his needs are imported from Turkey or Israel. But it is forbidden to export, as Israel almost completely prohibits the export of goods from the Strip to abroad.
About 2 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, who suffer from poverty, in light of the Israeli siege that has lasted for nearly 13 years.
Since 2008, three wars have occurred between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the Strip.
Since the announcement by US President Donald Trump of his plan for peace in the Middle East, which has met with widespread Palestinian rejection, an escalation of tension between Palestinians and Israelis has been recorded. The border between Israel and the Gaza Strip is witnessing an almost daily exchange of fire, which begins with the launching of rockets towards Israel, and the Jewish state retaliates by bombing Gaza.
Double taxes
Located on a narrow coastal strip, the Gaza Strip lacks any airport or seaport. The factories depend on local customers.
At the end of last year, Israel allowed, in a rare step, the export of eight tons of "CarboBo" sweets produced by the company "Sarayu Al Wadi" to Bahrain. It also allowed several times to export some types of vegetables and flowers from the sector to the outside.
The owners of the Sarayu Al-Wadi factory complain of a near collapse of the local markets, even though the prices of their goods are considered low compared to the prices outside the sector.
"What we exported was only one day's production," says Wael Al-Wadi, the company's chairman.
He added «We have 150 employees currently in the company. If the door is opened for the export of our products, it will reduce the unemployment crisis, as the factory will be able to employ between 300 and 450 workers. ”
The unemployment rates are very high in the sector, reaching 50%, one third of the youth.
In addition to the losses of the merchants, they were forced to pay large sums in exchange for transporting goods from the Israeli port in Ashdod, 35 kilometers north of the Strip. This process requires Israeli permission, and payment of double tax fees for the two Palestinian governments in Ramallah and Gaza.
"We pay wages to the workers and to the trucks that transport the goods to Karm Abu Salem," which is controlled by Israel, and controls all the goods that pass through it, the valley says.
The trucks cover a distance of about 500 meters between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, where a Hamas checkpoint is located. According to the chairman of the factory’s board of directors, “the truck will be taken to the Israeli side for inspection, before the goods are transferred to another truck from Gaza.”
The valley indicates that he pays "customs twice, the first in Ashdod, where Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and again in Gaza with the Hamas authority."
"Natalia"
The Gaza Strip suffers from a significant shortage of available electricity. Amnesty International contributed somewhat to the problem by installing three generators in the industrial area to help factories operate.
The local factories in the Gaza Strip also produce chocolate named "Natalia", which is a replica of the international hazelnut chocolate "Nutella".
A box of Natalia is sold at 400 grams, for four shekels (about a dollar).
"The winter pill is sold for half shekels in Gaza and five shekels in Israel," said Wael Al-Wadi, the chairman of the board of directors of the Sarawy Al-Wadiya Company.
Maher Al-Tabaa, director of public relations in the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, believes that "the biscuit factories and sweets in Gaza are of very high quality, but all this is forbidden to leave Gaza."
He added, "It is forbidden to enter them even into the West Bank, and the market in Gaza is limited, and the export ban is weakening the industry."
But Wael Al-Wadi wants to be optimistic despite all the difficulties. He says, "If you can work and succeed in Gaza, you can succeed anywhere in the world."
Sweets in Gaza are of very high quality, but all this is forbidden to leave the Strip.
- The owners of the Sarayu Al-Wadi factory complain about the collapse of local markets, even though the prices of their goods are considered low compared to prices outside the sector.