Gaza vs London vs New York: what the basics cost in 2026
In September 2026, my family in Northern Gaza pays $85 for 1,000 litres of water. In London the same amount from the tap costs about $3.68, and in New York about $1.78. That makes water 23 times London and 48 times New York. A 12 kg cylinder of cooking gas costs us close to $600, while the same energy from mains gas costs about $15 in London and $14 in New York. Cooking energy here costs roughly 40 times more. Flour is the surprise: only 1.3 to 2.4 times more. The real difference is income. A median New York household earns about $6,769 a month. We need $1,820 a month to survive and we earn nothing.
Why I made this comparison
People outside Gaza often ask me a simple question: is it really that expensive there? It is a fair question, and the honest answer is more interesting than yes. Some things cost many times what they cost in a rich city. Some cost about the same. A few cost less. What makes life here impossible is not one price. It is the combination of a handful of brutal prices with an income of zero.
So I took the numbers I record every month from my own receipts, the same numbers on our Gaza price tracker, and put them next to official prices for London and New York. Every London and New York figure below has a named source at the bottom of this page. Nothing is estimated from a feeling.
The comparison, side by side
All prices are converted to US dollars. Pounds use the rate on 15 September 2026, where one pound buys 1.3474 dollars.
| Item | Gaza | London | New York | Gaza costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water, 1,000 litresGaza trucked, others mains supply | $85.00 | $3.68 | $1.78 | 23× to 48× |
| Cooking energy, per kWhGaza gas cylinder, others mains gas | $3.90 | $0.10 | $0.09 | 39× to 44× |
| Flour, 1 kgGaza 25 kg bag, others shop price | $1.52 | $0.63 | $1.21 | 1.3× to 2.4× |
| Rent, per monthGaza damaged two-room flat | $500 | $3,091 | $3,707 | less |
| Income, per monthGaza earned income, others median | $0 | $4,383 | $6,769 | nothing |
London income is the UK median full-time salary. New York income is the city's median household income. Gaza prices are from our August 2026 tracker edition. Sources and method are listed at the end of this article.
Water: the price that shocks people most
In London and New York, water arrives through a pipe and costs so little that most people never think about it. Here there is no working network where we live. Water comes on a truck, a driver fills whatever containers you own, and you pay him at the door. A thousand litres costs us $85 now. It was about $60 in July, and the heat pushed it up because everyone needs more at once.
The clearest way I know to show the gap is to ask what the same fifty dollars buys.
London uses the Thames Water clean water charge. New York uses the New York City Water Board water charge. Sewer and standing charges are left out on both sides, because our truck price includes no sewer at all.
A family of four needs about five of those deliveries a month, so water alone costs us around $420 a month. That is the same as our whole food budget, and it is second only to rent. The baby's water has to be boiled first, every time, and the boiling costs fuel, which brings me to the next price.
Cooking gas: $600 for what London pays $15
A 12 kg cylinder of cooking gas costs about 1,800 NIS here, which is close to $600. That is more than our monthly rent. Almost no family buys one. We cook on firewood, and when there is no wood, people burn cardboard and plastic, which I have written about in how families in Gaza cook without gas.
Comparing a cylinder with mains gas needs one step of arithmetic, because London and New York households are billed by energy, not by weight. Bottled gas holds roughly 12.8 kWh of energy per kilogram, so a 12 kg cylinder holds about 154 kWh. Here is what those same 154 kWh cost in each place.
| Place | Price per kWh | Cost of 154 kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Gaza12 kg cylinder, about 1,800 NIS | $3.90 | about $600 |
| LondonOfgem price cap, July to September 2026 | $0.099 | about $15 |
| New YorkEIA residential natural gas, June 2026 | $0.089 | about $14 |
What that means in a kitchen: the energy a London family uses for about fifteen dollars would cost us close to six hundred. So we do not use it. My wife cooks on wood in the heat, and the smoke goes into her eyes and the children's lungs.
Flour: the price that surprised me too
I expected flour to be the worst line in this comparison, because a year ago it was. At the worst point of the hunger, a bag cost far more than it does now. In August 2026 a 25 kg bag costs us $38, which works out to $1.52 per kilogram. That is about 2.4 times a UK supermarket price and only 1.3 times the US city average.
I am including this on purpose, because a comparison that only shows the frightening numbers is not honest. The flour price is not what breaks a family here. What breaks it is this: before the war, that same bag cost us about $4, I had a salary, and turning flour into bread did not require $420 of trucked water and wood we cannot afford to burn.
The honest summary: some basics in Gaza cost roughly what they cost in a Western city. The ones that cost 20 to 50 times more are exactly the ones you cannot live without, water and the fuel to cook, and they arrive in a place where almost nobody has an income.
Rent: cheaper, and still out of reach
Rent is the one line where Gaza is far cheaper. We pay $500 a month for a damaged two-room apartment with broken windows and no reliable utilities. The average private rent in London is about $3,091 and the median asking rent in New York is about $3,707.
But a cheap rent is only cheap if you have wages to pay it. Before the war, a similar place cost us about $150. There is no functioning job market in Northern Gaza now. I am a trained agricultural engineer and there is no work to do. Every month of rent comes from people who decide to help.
The same family, before the war and now
The comparison with London and New York is useful, but the comparison that hurts most is with our own life three years ago. These are our own prices from before October 2023 and from August 2026.
| Item | Before the war | August 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour, 25 kg bag | $4 | $38 | 9.5× |
| Rice, 1 kg | $0.90 | $3.80 | 4.2× |
| Infant formula, 400 g tin | $8 | $28 | 3.5× |
| Cooking gas, 12 kg cylinder | $9 | about $600 | 67× |
| Internet and phone, monthly | $8 | $100 | 12.5× |
| Rent, damaged apartment, monthly | $150 | $500 | 3.3× |
| Water | tap, almost free | $85 per 1,000 L | from nothing |
What one month costs us
Put everything together and a family of four in Northern Gaza needs about $1,820 a month in August 2026. This is our real budget, line by line, the same one published on the monthly survival budget page.
| Line | Per month |
|---|---|
| Rent, damaged two-room apartment | $500 |
| Food staples | $420 |
| Trucked water | $420 |
| Cooking fuel, mostly firewood | $210 |
| Infant formula and diapers | $110 |
| Internet and phone | $100 |
| Medicine and first aid | $60 |
| Total | $1,820 |
For a London worker on the median salary, $1,820 is a little over 40 percent of one month's pay. For a median New York household it is about 27 percent. For us it is the whole month, every month, and none of it is earned.
People sometimes say that at least things must be cheaper in Gaza. Some things are. But when you earn nothing, even a cheap price is a price you cannot pay.
What your help turns into, at these prices
Every figure here comes from the same receipts as the tables above. Cash is what works, because we can buy water the day the truck comes and wood the day it appears.
A tin of formula $28
One 400 g tin of formula for our baby daughter, who was born during the war.
A truck of water $85
A thousand litres at our door. In London that money would buy about 23,000 litres.
A week of water $100
Enough safe water for four people for about a week, boiled for the baby.
Two weeks of food $210
Flour, rice, lentils and oil for the four of us for half a month.
What costs a Londoner pennies costs us everything. You can close that gap.
A truck of water is $85. A tin of formula is $28. Whatever you send reaches my family directly, usually within 48 hours, and nothing is taken out on our end.
Questions people ask
Is Gaza more expensive than London or New York?
For the basics you cannot live without, yes. Water costs about 23 times London and 48 times New York per 1,000 litres, and cooking energy about 40 times. Flour is only 1.3 to 2.4 times more, and rent for a damaged flat is cheaper. The deciding difference is income: our family earns nothing.
How much does water cost in Gaza compared with London and New York?
About $85 per 1,000 litres of trucked water in Northern Gaza, against about $3.68 in London and $1.78 in New York for the water charge alone. Fifty dollars buys about 590 litres here, about 13,600 in London and about 28,000 in New York.
How much does cooking gas cost in Gaza compared with the UK and US?
A 12 kg cylinder costs about 1,800 NIS, close to $600, which is about $3.90 per kWh. The same 154 kWh from mains gas costs about $15 in the UK and $14 in New York, so it is roughly 40 times more expensive here. That is why most families cook on wood.
Why is flour not much more expensive in Gaza?
Flour prices fell back from their peak once more flour entered. A 25 kg bag costs $38 in August 2026, or $1.52 per kg. The problem is that it cost $4 before the war, we have no income, and baking needs water and fuel that cost many times more.
How much does a family in Gaza need each month?
Our family of four needs about $1,820 a month as of August 2026: rent $500, food $420, water $420, cooking fuel $210, formula and diapers $110, internet and phone $100, and medicine $60. The live numbers are on the price tracker, and you can check who we are on the verification page.
Sources and method
- Gaza prices: the Al-Shanti family's own receipts, August 2026 edition of the Gaza price tracker. Pre-war figures are the family's prices before October 2023.
- London water: Thames Water metered household charges, clean water £2.7346 per cubic metre from 1 April 2026. thameswater.co.uk
- New York water: New York City Water Board, FY2026 metered water charge $5.05 per 100 cubic feet, effective 1 July 2025. nyc.gov
- UK gas: Ofgem energy price cap, 1 July to 30 September 2026, gas unit rate 7.33p per kWh including VAT. ofgem.gov.uk
- New York gas: US Energy Information Administration, New York residential natural gas price, June 2026, $27.01 per thousand cubic feet, converted at about 303.6 kWh per thousand cubic feet. eia.gov
- UK flour: Sainsbury's and Asda plain flour, £0.70 per 1.5 kg, via trolley.co.uk. trolley.co.uk
- US flour: Bureau of Labor Statistics average price, white all purpose flour, US city average, August 2026, $0.548 per pound. fred.stlouisfed.org
- London rent: Office for National Statistics, average private rent in London, May 2026, £2,294 per month. ons.gov.uk
- New York rent: Realtor.com, New York City median asking rent, second quarter 2026, $3,707 per month.
- UK income: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, median gross annual pay for full-time employees, April 2025, £39,039. ons.gov.uk
- New York income: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 one-year estimate, New York city median household income $81,228. censusreporter.org
- Exchange rate: £1 = $1.3474 on 15 September 2026. Bottled gas energy taken as about 12.8 kWh per kg. Gaza earned income is zero because there is no functioning labour market in Northern Gaza.