October 25, 2012: Many Israelis were dismayed to discover that the new iPhone 5 is already for sale in Gaza, where it is smuggled in. While Gaza has been blockaded by Israel for the last few years (to prevent Hamas, which runs the place, from getting more weapons and military equipment), Egypt has been less rigorous. The Egyptian border has a network of tunnels crossing it, which carries weapons and consumer goods for the ten percent of the population that does quite well off all the foreign aid and other scams. It’s no secret that there are many up-scale neighborhoods in Gaza. These get little publicity in the foreign media but there they are and the residents are snapping up iPhone 5's at about twice what they are going for in the US (where unlocked iPhone 5's go for about $650). The iPhones are more expensive in Gaza because of all the bribes paid to police and border officials as well as the hefty tax Hamas imposes on smuggled goods.