Cash the writer received as a gift for succeeding in secondary school a few years back; nowadays, cash is very hard to come by. Photo: Shahed AbuAlShaik

It’s strange how war always adds a new layer of suffering to its cruelty.

If we have money, we no longer own all of it. Before the war there were banks and ATM machines so we could withdraw our money easily. When Israel’s war on Gaza started, all the banks closed. I do not blame the bank owners, as they have the right to be afraid. And eventually, most of the banks were destroyed by bombs and robbed by thieves.

ATMs continued to function for a few months, but their operation was very limited, with a maximum withdrawal limit, and the queues to withdraw cash exceeded thousands. People would sleep in the streets to reserve a spot in line, and many couldn’t reach the machines.

People like my family who still have money in a bank account, do not have any way to withdraw cash that we need to buy necessities.

My father has a monthly salary and he used to withdraw some of it from the bank. Now the only way to benefit from the money in his account, is to give up a large portion of it to a moneylender, usually a quarter or even a third, depending on how greedy the person lending the money is.

Some people in Gaza were traders before the war and they accumulated large amounts of money outside the banks, so they now sell that cash for a huge profit. This person would give my father cash after receiving a transfer from my father’s bank account. However, the amount they give would be 25 to 35 percent less than the amount transferred to them.

At first, my father firmly refused to withdraw his money in this usurious way. He considered this to be forbidden and not in line with our Muslim religion. However, the burden of providing for his family increased, and the problem became unsolvable except through this method. He didn’t even have enough cash to use transportation or buy something simple to eat. So, my father was forced to accept giving a large portion of his money to an usurer in exchange for the rest.

This money wasn’t enough, even after his full salary was withdrawn. We are a large family, and our family includes a little girl, my sister, with many needs. Also, our expenses during the war increased due to the rising prices and frequent displacement. So how would the money be enough if it was missing a large portion? My father felt increasingly frustrated about withdrawing his money with such an unreasonable deduction. He asked many people and called his acquaintances to try to find someone who would take a smaller part of his money.

My father’s attempts always failed; no one accepted less. The usurers were all united in increasing people’s suffering and stealing their money with their consent. Although this transaction appears to be based on mutual agreement, the person needing their money lacks options and agrees to be robbed in order to survive. So, my father has no choice but to agree to a 32% deduction from his salary. Each time he returns home feeling depressed about his situation, cursing the occupation a thousand times for being the main cause of all his frustration and losses.

After a year and four months of war, my father sat down to calculate how much of his money had been deducted. He found that the total amount taken by the usurers during this period exceeded 10,000 shekels, nearly $3,000. His facial expressions at that moment were indescribable. He couldn’t believe that he had lost that much money just to get his own. They took money that we desperately needed. We spent many days hungry because the money ran out before the month ended.

I don’t know how someone who takes people’s money and adds to their pain can sleep at night. How can these usurers spend that stolen money happily? How do they live knowing that there are people praying against them, suffering because of them? What do they tell their children about the source of this money? “I brought you money I took from another father who wishes he could provide what his children need?”

The war came as a treasure for these traders, allowing them to benefit from our hard-earned money and to sell cash to customers for far more than its original value. Their bank accounts are nearly bursting with money that is considered usury and forbidden. These people who profit from war are exploiting other people’s desperate and difficult circumstances at a time when everyone in Gaza should be supporting each other. Instead the usurers exacerbate the suffering of their neighbors and increase our hardships. Most of us have stopped earning any income due to the destruction of our workplaces. How can we continue to bear the insane price hikes or the shortage of food? Or the increase of our expenses due to repeated displacement and the need to repurchase all essentials?

As the war on Gaza continues, the liquidity problem worsens, and the stealing of people’s money continues.  There are many necessities my father, and many others, cannot buy due to the lack of liquidity. Each month he pressures himself to transact with the usurer to withdraw some more of his money to get through our days. But my dad always says to us, “My dear children, I swear all my money is for you, even though I’m upset that nearly half of it goes to waste. The most important thing is that you are safe and alive, and everything else becomes easier.” I can tell that he is very upset, but he wants to ease our worries even in his worst moments.