Rotem Zelingher ^1* Jesus Crespo Cuaresma ^1,2

• ¹ Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Vienna, Austria
• ² International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

Inaccuracies in Reported Prices and Lack of Source Specification In response to Hassoun et al., and to provide the most accurate price changes of food items crucial to the Palestinian diet, we have collected and analyzed prices in Gaza from January 2023 to September 2024, focusing on both locally produced and imported goods. We gathered information from various sources to ensure the reliability of the reported prices.The ongoing conflict in Gaza has brought significant inflationary pressures, creating critical challenges for food security and affordability. From January 2023 to September 2024, essential food items have seen considerable price fluctuations, especially following the onset of regional hostilities in October 2023. In addition to correcting the wrongly reported items in the study by Hassoun et al., we also examined price trends for key food items, with a particular focus on bread-a staple in the Palestinian diet-as well as other locally produced and imported goods. Between January and September 2023, bread prices generally remained stable within a range of Prices for imported staples like short rice (imported from Australia) and semolina (imported from Israel) have risen significantly. Short-grain rice, for example, increased from 9.82 NIS/KG in October 2023 to 13.8 NIS/KG by September 2024-a 40.5% rise. Semolina prices also climbed, peaking at 21.2 NIS/KG in March 2024 before slightly stabilizing. The price of long-grain rice (imported from the USA), however, has remained quite stable and is now slightly lower compared to the pre-war period, both in local currency and USD.Sugar prices experienced sharp volatility post-conflict, rising from around 4 NIS/KG in November 2023 to a peak of 54.5 NIS/KG in March 2024. The price then decreased dramatically between June and August, to a low 5.6 NIS/KG, before rising again to 18 NIS/KG in September 2024. As sugar is reported to be imported from the EU, these abrupt changes reflect international trade disruptions and local scarcity. Wheat flour, an Israel import and a crucial component in bread production, has shown relative price stability, increasing only slightly from 3.9 NIS in early 2023 to around 4 NIS more recently. In terms of USD, the prices show a slight decrease. The prices correspond to the wheat prices in Israel, suggesting that wheat distribution to consumers has not been majorly affected due to the war. Milk, which is also primarily imported from Israel, saw prices double from 6.45 NIS pre-conflict to 12.8 NIS by April 2024. In Israel, prices have slightly increased since the beginning of the war, while local milk production dropped drastically 3 . This suggests a halt in milk exports to the Gaza Strip, which would have contributed to keep the local price stable. The article by Hassoun et al. rightfully emphasizes the worsening food insecurity in Gaza due to the ongoing war since October 2023. However, it reports inaccurate information, and mistakenly highlights price increases in food items that are not central to the common Gazan diet (Horino et al., 2024). Items such as fish and veal, which are wrongly reported to have experienced extreme price hikes, are of relative little important in the daily diet of the Palestinian population. The focus on these less critical items distracts from the real and pressing issue: the significant increase in the price of bread, a staple food that plays a crucial role in the diet of Palestinian households, especially for poorer families.In conclusion, Hassoun et al. reports food price data inaccurately, which raises significant concerns regarding the validity of their findings on food insecurity in Gaza. The misreporting of price data misleads readers and distorts the overall conclusions drawn about food security during the 2023 war on Gaza. In addition, focusing more closely on bread and other staple foods may have helped provide a more accurate depiction of the food insecurity crisis in Gaza, especially in relation to poor and vulnerable populations that rely heavily on these foods. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.