Egyptian firm charges trucks entering Gaza $20,000 in ‘bribes’

Egyptian tribal leader Ibrahim al-Organi has continued to exercise de facto control over the entry of aid and commercial trucks into Gaza after the ceasefire that came into effect on 19 January, Middle East Eye can reveal.

Efforts to bring aid into Gaza after the ceasefire are complicated by the exorbitant fees imposed on the entry of trucks, and the power granted to Organi’s firms to determine which trucks enter the strip, according to Egyptian and Palestinian sources who briefed local media.

Trucks carrying commercial goods are charged at least $20,000, the sources said, while aid trucks are also subject to extortion before crossing to Gaza.

Organi is a Sinai businessman, politician and tribal leader allied with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Organi’s name has become synonymous with unofficial profits made out of the suffocating Gaza blockade, particularly from desperate Palestinians attempting to flee the fighting.

Local media last year revealed that Organi made at least $2m daily from Palestinians who left the Gaza Strip via the border crossing point with Egypt, the only one not directly controlled by Israel at the time. Another report revealed that Organi’s companies charged aid trucks $5000 to enter Gaza.

Now, 16 months after the beginning of the war, sources inside the Rafah border crossing revealed that two companies linked with Organi have taken over all operations related to aid deliveries, completely sidelining the Egyptian Red Crescent.

The first is Sons of Sinai, a trading and contracting company that is part of Organi Group, a group of companies owned by Organi and his son Essam.

The second is Golden Eagle, the subcontractor of Sons of Sinai tasked with facilitating logistics for aid delivery.

“Sons of Sinai organises the entry of trucks, even though this role is supposed to be exclusive to the Red Crescent,” a source at the Rafah crossing told local media on condition of anonymity. “This has opened the door to corruption and bribes, as payments are made to prioritise the passage of certain trucks over others.”

“The Red Crescent, of course, cannot challenge them, and its presence has become merely symbolic.”

Another source in Sinai revealed that the Red Crescent has contracted with the Organi Group for logistical operations in the warehouses of Arish city, Arish airport, and inside the crossing.

The group has delegated these tasks to Golden Eagle, which receives aid from the airport, international shipments, or aid entering logistical warehouses, loads it onto trucks, and packages it according to specifications acceptable at the two Israeli crossings, Nitzana and Kerem Shalom, as well as Rafah crossing.

This is carried out alongside security personnel affiliated with Sons of Sinai.

The source said that there are thousands of Red Crescent volunteers for these tasks, each earning a symbolic honorarium of 250 Egyptian pounds per day (about $5), while others from Cairo earn double that amount. 

“However, the Red Crescent has contracted with Sons of Sinai, leaving this army of volunteers idle, receiving their stipends without any work other than recording the numbers of trucks and quantities,” he added.  

local media contacted the Egyptian government, the Egyptian Red Crescent and the Organi Group for comment but received no response by the time of publication.

Control on type of goods 

Before the October 2023 war, the Gaza Strip needed at least 500 aid trucks to enter daily to meet the demands of the 2.3 million population living under Israeli blockade since 2007. 

The number of trucks entering Gaza significantly dropped following the onslaught and the total siege imposed by Israel since 9 October 2023. 

After the ceasefire deal was agreed on 19 January, the UN pushed for the entry of 600 trucks per day in the first six weeks as an urgent requirement to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. 

On Monday, Hamas announced it would suspend the handover of Israeli captives in protest against the insufficient amounts of aid entering the Gaza Strip, which fell far short of the terms of the agreement.

But on Wednesday, Israel permitted the entry of at least 801 trucks, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Subsequently, Hamas on Thursday announced that the ceasefire deal was back on track, committing to releasing more Israeli captives on Saturday as agreed, after trucks carrying essentials, including tents, medical equipment, and fuel began entering the strip.

But trucks carrying prefabricated houses (caravans) and heavy equipment are still queuing at the border and have yet to obtain permission from Israel to enter Gaza, the source at the Rafah crossing told local media, correcting media reports to the contrary. 

Palestinians in Gaza are in dire need of food, shelter and medical equipment. Those who returned to the north are in particular desperate for winter-proof shelter as much of the area has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment. 

In the 23 days since the ceasefire came into effect, the number of aid and commercial trucks that have entered Gaza was around 9,000, Ismail Thawabteh, director of the Palestinian government media office in Gaza, told local media.  

That was well below the minimum required for the terms of the deal to take effect.

This quantity was sufficient for only five percent of Gaza’s population, and hundreds of these trucks carry non-essential or secondary materials, he said.

“There is a flaw in the type of goods coming into the Strip,” he said.

“Instead of flour, ghee, oil, rice, and other essential items, as well as oxygen tanks necessary for operating rooms or electricity generation equipment, we find dozens of trucks carrying completely unnecessary goods like chocolate, potato chips, Nescafé, and soft drinks,” he added. 

Thawabteh added that the people of Gaza urgently need construction materials and equipment for rubble removal to begin reconstruction, as well as mobile homes and tents.

“There is also a critical need for medical supplies, including medicines and medical equipment, and tools to improve water and sanitation services to prevent the spread of diseases.” 

Bribes on commercial trucks

Since Israel’s invasion of the Rafah crossing in May 2024 and its subsequent closure, Organi’s profits from evacuating Palestinian travellers stalled.

Yet in the months that followed its closure, he continued to charge commercial trucks up to $60,000 in unofficial fees to leave the country via other crossings, including Nitzana and Kerem Shalom. The fees have contributed to the surge in prices of essentials in Gaza, Palestinian sources told local media.

Sources at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, as well as in the Egyptian city of Rafah and the port of Arish, confirm that Sons of Sinai is the only company authorised to transport and bring commercial goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip for a fee.  

“The fees paid to Sons of Sinai have decreased since the ceasefire came into effect, from $60,000 per truck to $20,000 per truck,” a source at Rafah crossing told local media.

“However, these fees (which are, in fact, illegal and unofficial bribes) remain one of the reasons for the high prices of goods inside the Strip, making it difficult for families to purchase necessities that aid does not cover.”  

The source added that, in contrast, some merchants pay additional bribes to bring in certain goods, such as cigarettes.

Sons of Sinai confiscate cigarettes from commercial trucks during inspections and prevents their entry, as it holds the exclusive right to bring cigarettes into Gaza, local media understands.  

“The monopoly on cigarettes has driven their prices to insane levels. A crate that costs 40,000 Egyptian pounds [less than $8,000] at times is sold for $250,000 in Gaza,” a Palestinian source inside Gaza said.  

In addition to Sons of Sinai, the Organi Group, through another company called Al-Aqsa, controls transportation trucks, making it the largest broker for trucks in Egypt.

The company provides services to transport goods from Egypt to merchants inside Gaza for an additional fee on top of the $20,000 charged by Sons of Sinai.  

According to two merchants local media spoke to, it has become difficult to arrange transportation for goods without going through Al-Aqsa, which has become a “near-monopoly” in the market.  

local media contacted Al-Aqsa for comment.

“The Palestinian government in Gaza does not collect any fees on trucks whatsoever,” Thawabteh said.

“However, some companies responsible for transporting goods impose additional fees on trucks waiting to cross, which increases transportation costs,” he added.

“These additional fees negatively impact the prices of goods inside the Strip, as merchants are forced to raise prices to cover the high costs, adding to the woes of the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Israel withdrew from the Rafah crossing on 31 January. Since then, the border crossing has been managed by Palestinians affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and other personnel from Gaza unaffiliated with Hamas, a source within the crossing explained.

A civilian force of EU personnel has also been deployed to the border crossing point in Gaza to assist with the evacuations of the wounded, and is due to finish its mandate by the end of the first phase of the ceasefire in the first week of March.