Scarce and Priceless: How a Simple Lighter Became Essential to Survival in Gaza

Gaza City — Rabab Deifallah sits inside her tent, clutching a small, battered lighter. She presses it once, then again, trying to produce a spark strong enough to ignite a pile of wood inside a stove. The mother of five has carefully looked after the lighter, and her son has repaired it several times since it became difficult to buy a new one after Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Firewood has become essential for 46-year-old Rabab. She uses it to bake bread, heat water for her children, prepare food, and make tea amid shortages of cooking gas and soaring fuel prices. "Our whole daily life depends on fire," Rabab told Al Jazeera. "But getting a fire started begins with a lighter and this small object has become one of the hardest things to find in Gaza."

Before the war, lighters were so cheap and readily available that she remembers buying three for one shekel ($0.33). Today, a new lighter can cost between $27 and $33, and Rabab recently spent $12 to repair her old lighter. "Should I spend that amount on a lighter, or should I buy a bag of flour?" she asked.

Palestinians in Gaza would rather spend their limited money on food, so a single lighter is often passed around families in several tents. Some days, Rabab cannot find a lighter at all, forcing her family to spend days eating cold food or waiting until a neighbour has a fire burning to borrow a spark. She often sends a piece of cardboard to a neighbour to get a light off their fire and bring it home, or asks to use their oven when they are baking bread.

Nearby, Hasnaa Mansour, 43, faces the same problem from a different angle. Displaced from Jabalia refugee camp, Hasnaa sits beside a clay oven she has treasured since her family’s financial situation deteriorated during the war. Her husband previously worked as a tailor and the family lived relatively comfortably, but due to a lack of business, Hasnaa now bakes and sells food to help support their six children.

Hasnaa has repeatedly repaired her lighter because buying a new one is beyond her means. Furthermore, a shortage of cooking gas has compounded the issue. "With gas, all you need is a small spark to light it. But with the oven, I need a real fire," she said. "I’ve been sitting here since the morning and by 10 o’clock I still couldn’t light the oven. I sent my young daughter with a piece of cardboard to look for someone who had a fire burning, but she couldn’t find anyone."

The lighter shortage occurs amid Israel’s continued siege on Gaza. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) notes that restrictions on the movement of goods and closures of crossings have contributed to severe shortages and rising prices of essential supplies. Items classified by Israeli authorities as "dual-use" also face immense difficulties in obtaining approval to enter the territory.

The Gaza Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported that restrictions on crossings and commercial shipment mechanisms have severely limited the flow of goods, with only about 30,000 trucks entering Gaza during the first five months of 2026—an average of no more than 191 trucks a day, falling far below pre-war needs. The chamber previously documented the emergence of lighter-repair work as lighters were restricted from entering Gaza, making them exceptionally valuable.

For Shadi Abu Shamlah, a displaced father living with his family at Al-Karmel School west of Gaza City, the shortage means sharing a single lighter among multiple tents. "The whole school here… you wouldn’t find more than four lighters," he said, explaining that they move from tent to tent as families try to cook, heat water, or prepare hot drinks. Abu Shamlah noted that a lighter flint can cost 25 to 30 shekels ($8–$10), and people have resorted to using gas from larger cylinders to refill lighters, sometimes resulting in accidental burns.

To adapt to the crisis, 24-year-old Tamer Al-Shawish, a former driver and father of two, opened a small stall near the Al-Karmel school camp to fix lighters. "The war has forced us into jobs and work we never knew before," he told Al Jazeera. Tamer salvages parts from damaged lighters to repair others, ensuring that even old lighters retain value during the ongoing shortages.