Egypt Intensifies Crackdown on Dollar, Gold Dealers to Control Markets

US dollar bills. Reuters file photo
US dollar bills. Reuters file photo
TT

Egypt Intensifies Crackdown on Dollar, Gold Dealers to Control Markets

US dollar bills. Reuters file photo
US dollar bills. Reuters file photo

The Egyptian authorities are intensifying efforts to crackdown on foreign exchange and gold dealers in an attempt to combat the surging dollar rates in the parallel market.
On Friday, an Egyptian security source confirmed that 186 illicit foreign exchange trafficking operations were stopped in one week.
The official price of the US dollar in Egyptian banks is 30.9 Egyptian pounds, while its average price in the parallel black market, according to local media, on Friday, reached about 65 pounds.
An informed source said that the security services at the Ministry of Interior “were able to uncover 186 cases of [illicit trade] in foreign exchange during the past week.”
The source, which was quoted by Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency, noted that the value of the foreign currencies seized in these cases was equivalent to about 113.7 million pounds. He said this comes as a continuation of efforts to chase illicit trade of foreign currencies and speculation on currency prices, by hiding them from circulation.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Thursday that the various state agencies continue to take necessary steps and measures that will contribute to providing goods in appropriate quantities and prices, and deploy efforts to control the markets.
In this context, MP Hassan Ammar said the success of the security authorities in arresting a number of speculators in the parallel market and bringing them to trial will have a positive impact on restoring balance to the prices of goods and reducing inflation rates.
In press statements on Friday, he stressed the importance of completing the implementation of economic financial measures to maintain price stability in the markets.
The Egyptian Ministry of Interior announced on Friday that it has seized 1,262 cases of withholding various food commodities.
The ministry pointed to its efforts to protect consumers, tighten control over markets, and confront attempts to withhold goods from trading to raise their prices.

 

 

 

 



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
TT

Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.