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Gaza Tobacco Shortages Drive Dangerous Trend of Smoking Molokhia Mixed With Nicotine

In Gaza, a growing number of people are turning to an alarming substitute for cigarettes: dried molokhia mixed with nicotine. What began as an improvised response to shortages has become a widespread street-level practice as tobacco grows increasingly scarce and unaffordable.

The trend reflects the wider economic collapse inside the enclave, where Israeli restrictions on imports have made tobacco products difficult to find and extremely expensive. For many street vendors, tobacco sales were once a modest but steady source of income. Now, that trade has become far more unstable.

Israeli restrictions limit tobacco imports into Gaza

Israel has not allowed tobacco products into Gaza since the start of its war on the territory, alongside restrictions on food and humanitarian supplies. The blockade on goods has contributed to severe shortages across the enclave and helped push Gaza into famine last year, according to the report.

The current ceasefire, which began in October, was supposed to ease those restrictions. However, Israel has continued to limit what can enter Gaza, leaving residents with few affordable options for basic goods, including cigarettes and tobacco.

Street vendors adapt as demand shifts to nicotine mixtures

Abdul Karim Heles, 36, a tobacco seller from Shujayea who is now displaced in western Gaza City, says he has worked in the tobacco trade for years.

“We’ve been working in tobacco since before the war… and we continued during it,” he says. “I have no other profession.”

But according to Heles, the bigger change is not only in supply. It is in how customers behave when cigarettes become impossible to afford.

As cigarette prices rise sharply, some smokers have begun seeking unconventional alternatives. Among the most common is a mixture of herbs and nicotine, especially molokhia, a leafy vegetable that is dried and used as a base for smoking.

Why molokhia is being used as a nicotine base

Heles says the practice emerged as a makeshift solution during a period of extreme scarcity. Molokhia has become especially popular because it holds nicotine better than other herbs.

“Nicotine doesn’t stick to all herbs,” he explains. “Molokhia holds it... that’s why it became so widespread, despite all the warnings.”

According to his account, the leaves are dried, crushed, and mixed with nicotine in a basic preparation process that bears no relation to safe tobacco production. The result is a cheap smoking substance, but one that carries serious health dangers.

Health risks of smoking raw nicotine with herbs

Helez warns that the use of raw nicotine mixed with herbs is extremely dangerous.

“Using raw nicotine with herbs is dangerous… it’s a toxic substance and can cause death,” he says, recalling incidents in the market. “I know two people recently who died instantly after consuming nicotine.”

Medical experts generally warn that nicotine is a toxic chemical in concentrated form and that ingesting or smoking it outside regulated products can cause poisoning, heart complications, and in severe cases, death. Mixing it with dried herbs does not make it safer.

The practice highlights how extreme shortages can drive people toward harmful improvisations, especially when access to normal goods is cut off and purchasing power collapses.

Rising cigarette prices make ordinary smoking nearly unaffordable

For many smokers in Gaza, the issue is no longer preference but cost. Heles says cigarette prices have risen dramatically.

“A pack used to cost 15 shekels ($5.15)… now it reaches 500 or 600 shekels ($171 or $205),” he explains. “It has become nearly impossible for many people.”

Even single cigarettes are now sold at inflated prices, reflecting the broader breakdown of the local economy. As incomes shrink and prices surge, fewer people can afford conventional tobacco products.

The result is a sharp decline in demand for cigarettes, though not because of health awareness. Instead, many residents are simply priced out of the market.

A crisis shaped by war, shortages, and desperation

The rise of molokhia mixed with nicotine is more than a strange smoking trend. It is a symptom of the wider crisis in Gaza, where war, import restrictions, and economic collapse have changed everyday life in dangerous ways.

• Imports remain restricted: Tobacco products and other goods have been limited since the start of the war.
• Prices have exploded: Cigarettes and even loose cigarettes have become unaffordable for many residents.
• Unsafe substitutes are spreading: Molokhia mixed with nicotine has emerged as a low-cost alternative.
• Health risks are severe: Raw nicotine can be toxic and may cause fatal poisoning.

What started as an emergency workaround now stands as another example of how scarcity in Gaza is reshaping habits, markets, and even the way people smoke.