UNICEF says it's investigating Israel’s allegations of smuggled tobacco in a Gaza aid shipment

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

CAIRO, Egypt — UNICEF on Wednesday said it was launching an investigation into Israel’s allegation that tobacco products were smuggled into Gaza in one of the UN agency’s aid shipments heading to the territory.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of facilitating aid to Gaza, said Monday it found bottles containing tobacco substances hidden inside cartons of hygiene kits belonging to UNICEF.

It shared photos of several bottles, one with a visible label reading “Nicotine.” It said it had suspended the delivery of UNICEF aid to Gaza.

Israel has barred entry of cigarettes and other nicotine products since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which triggered more than two years of war. The ban has led to a lucrative black market on tobacco products.

In a response to an Associated Press inquiry, UNICEF said the hygiene kits were being transported into Gaza by a commercial carrier, and that an investigation was opened into the claim.

“We take this allegation seriously,” it said.

It said that disruption of its operations risks further exacerbating an already dire situation in Gaza.

Though a shaky ceasefire announced last October has led to more humanitarian aid and other supplies entering Gaza, aid groups still say more of everything — from basic medical supplies to fuel — is needed. Some Palestinians are hoarding food, with reports of prices rising sharply for basic goods such as bags of flour.

The claims about UNICEF come amid accusations that Israeli soldiers are involved in Gaza tobacco smuggling. The brother of the chief of Israel’s internal security service, Bezalel Zini, has been charged with smuggling tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes into Gaza.

The indictment was part of a burgeoning scandal accusing more than a dozen people, many of them Israeli reserve soldiers, of personally profiting from the Israel-Hamas war and delivering goods into Gaza that could potentially benefit the militant group. Israel believes Hamas has cashed in on the illicit cigarette trade.

Even as famine was declared in parts of Gaza in the summer of 2025, Israel’s military was restricting the amount of food and other supplies entering the territory. At the height of the war, an individual cigarette could cost over US$80.

Samy Magdy, The Associated Press