Pills hidden inside flour sacks.
Narcotics dropped from drones.
As Gaza starves under siege, Israeli-controlled channels are flooding the Strip with illicit drugs, according to officials, medical professionals, and eyewitnesses who spoke to Quds News Network (QNN).
Since a ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel has continued to restrict the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. At the same time, drugs have entered the besieged enclave through aid-linked routes and Israeli-controlled airspace.
QNN examines how narcotics enter Gaza, who facilitates their spread, and why Palestinian authorities describe the practice as a deliberate weapon of war.
“Drugs Flooded the Markets During the War”
Residents repeatedly witnessed Israeli drones dropping drugs to collaborators during the assault.
“This is not new,” Enas, a Palestinian woman displaced from Rafah and now sheltering in Khan Younis, told QNN. “Drugs and cigarettes flooded the markets throughout the war, even as Israel kept the crossings closed.”
Residents of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza also told QNN that in August, an Israeli quadcopter dropped drugs to two collaborators in the street. The drone later exploded, killing at least two people.
What Types of Drugs Enter Gaza?
Mohamed A., an officer in Gaza’s Interior Ministry, told us that authorities seized a wide range of narcotics.
These include pills, cannabis resin, chemical drugs, and hallucinogenic substances that can cause severe addiction and death.
Some of the drugs target the nervous system and carry lethal side effects.
Aid Trucks and Drones: How Drugs Enter Gaza
Commercial Trucks
The ceasefire promised the immediate entry of full humanitarian aid. The reality looks different.
Israel allows only a limited number of commercial trucks into Gaza. These trucks do not carry meat, dairy, or fresh vegetables. They mainly transport snacks, chocolate, crisps, and soft drinks.
According to Gaza officials, at least six commercial trucks each day are used to smuggle drugs into Gaza. Israeli-backed groups and individuals coordinate the operation. Smugglers hide narcotics inside canned food and packaged goods.
Last year, cigarettes also entered Gaza through aid trucks, according to multiple reports. Smugglers later targeted the trucks inside Gaza to retrieve the goods.
Earlier this year, Palestinians found oxycodone pills inside flour sacks distributed by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Photos of the pills spread widely on social media.
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Oxycodone is a powerful opioid similar to morphine. Doctors prescribe it for severe pain, including cancer and major injuries.
Gaza-based pharmacist Omar Hamad said he personally saw oxycodone pills in four aid flour sacks.
“The drug acts on specific receptors in the nervous system,” he wrote. “It causes severe addiction, slowed heart rate, impaired consciousness, and dangerous respiratory depression.”
“Its effects can turn a person into something unrecognizable,” he added. “A shell of who they were.”
Drones
During the genocide, Israeli drones dropped packages containing drugs and cigarettes across Gaza, according to Interior Ministry officials.
After the ceasefire, the practice continued.
Israeli forces now drop boxes of drugs inside the so-called “yellow line,” an area under Israeli military control. Local dealer networks collect and distribute the drugs with protection from Israeli-armed gangs.
The Israeli military presence in the area prevents Palestinian police from intervening.
Why Israel Floods Gaza With Narcotics
The Government Media Office said Israel uses drugs as a “soft weapon” against civilians.
Officials say the goal is clear: Spread addiction, ncrease crime, destroy social cohesion, undermine mental and physical health.
Interior Ministry investigations show that smuggling operations exploit Israel’s full control over crossings and the absence of Palestinian security forces there.
Israel also blocks the entry of scanning devices, making inspection difficult once trucks enter Gaza.
Israel’s control of the “yellow line” allows free coordination with collaborators, officials said.
Crushing Gaza’s Security From Within
By flooding Gaza with drugs, Israel aims to dismantle the enclave’s security and justice structures.
The result is rising disorder, internal disputes, and social breakdown.
Gaza’s Anti-Drug Task Force burns seized narcotics after raids on dealers. Officials say the process adds another layer of suffering during an already devastating humanitarian crisis.
Legal experts say smuggling narcotics through humanitarian channels violates core principles of international humanitarian law.
The Fourth Geneva Convention requires an occupying power to ensure food and medical supplies for civilians.
The practice also violates the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, which criminalizes drug smuggling through civilian and humanitarian systems.
What emerges is not random smuggling, but a systematic abuse of control over Gaza’s lifelines. By exploiting aid routes, airspace, and siege conditions, Israel turns humanitarian channels into tools of social destruction. Long after bombs fall, the damage continues quietly, chemically, and deliberately, against a population already pushed to the edge.
