Molokhia is no longer just a traditional dish on the tables of the residents of the Gaza Strip, but has turned, under the weight of war and the scarcity of tobacco, into an unusual alternative to cigarettes, after smokers began drying its leaves and mixing them with nicotine liquid before rolling and smoking them.
This alternative became more popular among smokers after the price of a single cigarette jumped from about one shekel ($0.33) to the equivalent of forty times that amount, more than two years after the Israeli war in the sector, which suffers from a severe shortage of basic materials.
On a street in Gaza City, street vendor Abu Yahya Helles mixes dried and shredded molokhia leaves with nicotine liquid inside a small bag, before shaking it to obtain a green substance that is rolled like cigarettes and sold to customers.
“This is not a substitute for cigarettes, as it consists of molokhia leaves infused with nicotine, unlike cigarettes made from tobacco,” he told AFP, adding that people resort to it as a last resort in light of the absence of imported cigarettes and their high prices, despite his belief that it does not have the same effect.
The city's streets are crowded with pedestrians and customers, while stalls selling these cigarettes are scattered among the tents of displaced people and the piles of rubble left by the war.
Another vendor, named Mohammed Halas, says, “People smoking molokhia cigarettes is not a choice but a necessity for them. If cigarettes were available, we wouldn’t see molokhia cigarettes.”
However, this alternative, whether locally produced or imported, is not always available due to Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, only about four percent of the land is suitable for agriculture.
Toxic materials?
Smoking these cigarettes is raising increasing concerns about their health risks, given the lack of clear information about their ingredients.
“These cigarettes are made from herbs such as jute mallow, castor leaves and other varieties, and we do not know whether they are toxic or not,” says Leed Al-Naizi, adding that unknown liquid substances are added to them, “and we do not know if they are nicotine, poisons or even pesticides.”
Despite these concerns, he confirms that many people find themselves compelled to smoke it.
As for Abu Muhammad Saqr (47 years old), he says, “I have been smoking since I was thirteen. Now I smoke molokhia cigarettes. If they put poison in it, we would smoke it. There is no life or future for us to fear for our health.”
He adds that he doesn't enjoy it, "but I hold a cigarette and exhale smoke... it's not the right time to quit smoking given the circumstances." For her part, Nevin Samir, 53, says she has changed her habits, explaining, "I used to smoke a pack a day twenty years ago, but now I smoke a few cigarettes."
“Its taste and smell are bad,” adds the displaced woman in a tent in Khan Younis. “I smoke it perhaps to vent my anger or just to cope with the feeling that accompanies a bad-tasting cup of coffee.”
Since the ceasefire came into effect last October, Hamas and Israel have traded accusations of violating it, while at least 784 Palestinians have been killed since it began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
The war broke out following an unprecedented attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1221 people, according to official Israeli figures.
Israel responded with a large-scale military campaign that left more than 72560 dead in the Gaza Strip.