Company provides glimpse into Israeli trade with Gaza

This week, Victory Supermarket Chain (TASE: VCTR) revealed a small part of the profits made by Israeli companies from the goods that enter the Gaza Strip daily. This is a trade that mostly takes place in secret, both in order to reap the profits, but also to avoid harm to the public image of the companies concerned from the controversial practice.

Following a demand from the Israel Securities Authority, Victory reported to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that it made sales of NIS 99 million in the Gaza Strip in the first quarter of this year. This was a supplementary report to its quarterly financials, in which Victory presented growth in sales from NIS 604 million to NIS 756 million, which it now turns out was mostly attributable to the goods sent to the Gaza Strip.

The list of companies that sell goods to the Gaza Strip is not publicly available. The Customs Directorate in the Israel Tax Authority does not report the names on the list, saying that it has a “duty of confidentiality”. Predictably, the companies themselves do not volunteer the information. An exception is produce grower and exporter Mehadrin (TASE: MEDN), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group (TASE: DLEKG), which reported NIS 60 million revenue from sales to the Gaza Strip in its last quarterly financial statements.

Other names reportedly on the Customs Directorate list are Rami Levi (TASE: RMLI) and the King Store chain. Both companies vehemently deny selling goods to the Gaza Strip, despite meeting the criteria for doing so.

“We’re a retail chain, and if we have the possibility of obtaining a certain sales license, we do so. At worst, we won’t use it,” Rami Levi CEO Yafit Atias-Levy explains. “I don’t know what the world will be like tomorrow. Suddenly there’ll be world peace and it will be peace and love all around. So why shouldn’t I have a license? I take one out against any scenario that might arise. That’s my obligation. But my moral stance is not to sell to Gaza in wartime.”

According to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) in the Ministry of Defense, at the beginning of 2026 between 600 and 800 trucks were entering the Gaza Strip daily. 70% of them carried food supplies. A report of the United Nations World Food Programme speaks of procurement of two million metric tons of food worth $1.5 billion in 2024. From this it can be deduced that one metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of humanitarian aid is worth $700. According to market estimates, the current rate of food trucks entering the Gaza Strip represents annual revenue of NIS 5 billion.

In September 2025, the Customs Directorate published a special arrangement for including the “Israeli sector” in the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, with the aim of “reinforcing supervision” on the goods entering the strip. The aim of the arrangement was to prevent “diversion of goods to terrorist elements” by selecting suppliers that meet the threshold defined in the Promotion of Competition in the Food and Pharmacy Sectors Law. This means large suppliers with annual sales turnover exceeding NIS 344 million and large retailers with annual sales turnover exceeding NIS 286 million.

These companies sell food and cosmetics directly to authorized Gazan traders. Eighteen traders approved by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Customs Directorate currently operate in the Gaza Strip, according to a source familiar with the details. Most of the money with which the Gazan traders buy the loads on trucks from Israel apparently comes from donations to humanitarian causes. Each load can cost up to NIS 1 million.

According to Customs Directorate instructions, any approved business in the Gaza Strip that meets the criteria of COGAT is allowed to buy from Israeli suppliers that meet the conditions of the arrangement. After the purchase is made, the goods arrive at an agreed site (one of the crossings into the Gaza Strip that allow the passage of goods), undergo inspection by customs agents, and from there are distributed to the Palestinian population.

Golden Aisco Distribution, a distributor of food and cleaning products, appealed to the High Court of Justice against the requirement to meet the criteria of a large supplier or retailer, claiming unfair discrimination, as it argued that this criterion had no connection to the purpose of maintaining security, but the appeal was withdrawn and the condition have not changed.

There are Israeli companies that have decided not to apply to be included on the Customs Directorate list for ideological reasons. “Globes” has learned that retail chain Yochananof (TASE: YHNF), for example, has not applied, despite meeting the criteria. “We are an Israeli chain that serves the Israeli public and that does not wish to supply to Gaza in the light of the war and the events of October 7,” the company explained.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 16, 2026.

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