A shadowy wartime economy has emerged in Gaza

After the trauma of repeated displacement from her home in Gaza city, Suha Alam felt there was little left to lose. Having fled to Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, she messaged a friend still in the north to check on the family home, only to be told that looters had got through a hole in a broken wall and stolen everything.Numerous displaced Palestinians say their homes in the north have been ransacked while they sought shelter in Gaza’s south. Everything from televisions and kitchen appliances to furniture has been taken by Palestinian gangs, which aid workers say have been increasingly well organised in the north, even as Israel’s army claims to be in full control of the area.