By: Simon Brooke :: 4 June 2026
Today I received this message from a friend in Gaza:
Hello Simon, I appreciate your engagement and interest in our posts, and I'm very happy about that🤍🕊️ I truly see a significant impact when you share and interact with my posts, so I always strive to support you. I wanted to consult with you on the best way to convey our struggles, needs, and ideas to the public, as you have a large following on your account, which is a valuable asset✨
I have replied (identities redacted for obvious reasons)
Dear friend
I honestly don't know. I don't want to increase your despair, but this is really difficult. Many people I know say publicly that they support Palestine, but I think few are giving. And you know perfectly well that what you need is not gifts, it's political change in Israel. The UK government is still supporting Israel. They made a mild protest when Ben-Gvir abused western flotilla volunteers, but they're still sending weapons and sharing surveillance data.
The most important thing we in the west can do is put pressure on our governments to put pressure on Israel. But my own Member of Parliament here is from the right wing Conservative party who also side with Israel, and although I do write to him, I doubt it has much effect.
The Genocide has to be stopped. The siege has to be lifted. But I don't know how we can achieve those things. And I don't know how we can rebuild Gaza, unless the Israelis can be prevented from blowing it up again.
I don't want to tell you to leave, and I know that, in any case, Israel won't let you leave. But it's very hard to see how lasting peace can be achieved in Gaza. It's also really hard to think of places where Palestinians can move to, and hope to live secure, peaceful lives. The UK, in particular, is becoming increasingly hostile to refugees, and I think that's true also of the US and much of Europe.
What I can do in the short term is to continue to boost and quote posts from people in need in Gaza -- obviously, I can and will boost your posts.
But what we need to do is to find better ways of getting more news about the state of life in Gaza seen by more people in the west, because that's how we get more pressure put on our governments which can put pressure on Israel.
Another friend often posts pictures showing prices in the market, and that's useful. I hear from people that charity kitchens have been shut down in various places, but I don't know how many people that's affected. I hear a lot of people struggling to pay rent, or being forced to move their tents (or even abandon them) because they can't pay rent. But, again, I don't know how widespread this is.
Do you see these things happening around you?
In summary, I too am struggling with this situation. I'm an old man, and not in good health; I don't have a lot of money. I cannot help very much. What I can do, I am doing. It does not feel to me as if it's going to be enough.
What the world needs now is rather a lot of miracles, of which peace in Gaza would be just one.
My best wishes to you and to your family.
Simon
It feels hard to be asking people in Gaza — a place where we know that journalists, like doctors and ambulance crews, have been selectively targeted and killed — to become journalists. It's particularly hard to ask parents of young children to do this. Gaza has already too many children without parents.
Israel is, lets face it, wise to kill journalists. Truth about what is happening in Gaza is the only thing which will sufficiently move western public opinion to put sufficient pressure on Israel to change its policy.
It's clear from what I hear from those that I'm in touch with in Gaza that a very high proportion of all buildings including houses have been destroyed; food prices are extremely high and rising; charity food distribution is declining; malnutrition, especially among children, is widespread; clean water is in short supply; rents, even for a place to pitch a tent, are also high and rising; evictions are common; employment is extremely scarce.
I'm not a trained journalist. I don't know of ways that people in Gaza could get information out that could not be intercepted by Israeli surveillance, and, consequently, lead to those people being killed. So the questions I want to ask, I am not asking of people in Gaza.
But if you are somewhere safe, and have this information, and can share it without putting yourself at risk, the things I want to ask are these:
It's 250 miles from Cairo to Gaza. Prices for food staples in Cairo are pretty cheap — less than half what similar food costs in Scotland. Prices in Gaza are generally higher. So, somewhere along the road from Cairo to the markets of Gaza, someone is making an substantial profit.
Prices in Euros/Kg Cairo Edinburgh Gaza Milk 0.80 1.64 n/a Fresh White Bread 1.28 3.60 2.38 White Rice 0.60 2.00 3.27 Local Cheese 3.80 8.60 n/a Chicken Fillets 3.78 7.38 13.39 Beef 7.02 12.36 14.88 Apples 1.60 2.57 n/a Bananas 0.68 1.52 4.46 Oranges 0.53 2.87 2.98 Tomatoes 0.40 3.15 2.38 Potatoes 0.35 1.65 2.38 Onions 0.30 1.30 2.38 (Gaza data from one contact in northern Gaza, on 4th June 2026 — prices in Gaza are extremely volatile)
But who? Is it the merchants of Gaza, is it suppliers in Egypt, is it Israeli border guards imposing taxes or taking bribes, is it militias within Gaza, and, if so, is it militias aligned with Hamas, aligned with Israel, or just criminal gangs?
Landlords are charging high rents for places to pitch tents, and even more for rooms in standing buildings. I presume those landlords are Palestinians. Are landlords profiteering off the distress of their neighbours, or are they under pressure from militias or criminal protection rackets?
