Marjane Markets Sells Merkava Tank Toy as Gaza War Kills More Than 30,000

Marjane Markets, the Moroccan hypermarket and supermarket chain, announced on its website the forthcoming sale of a toy modeled after the Merkava tank, with the sale planned for the second week of March, while the war in the Gaza Strip has claimed more than 30,000 lives since October 7, 2023.

“The war's repercussions on living conditions in the Gaza Strip continue to be felt, with field testimonies from inside a local market documenting a sharp rise in prices and a significant drop in the movement of goods, alongside escalating humanitarian suffering that has affected various segments of society, especially children and families displaced and made homeless”

Al-Jazeera Net

Yabiladi reported that the toy’s product description promoted the Merkava tank as "the most advanced and the most fortified in the world," and as "the tank of the 21st century," while Marjane purchased sponsored ads on Facebook and Instagram to promote the item.

Al-Jazeera Net

Yabiladi said it tried to reach Marjane Markets’ management but to no avail, and that after its article the toy depicting a Merkava tank was removed from the Marjanemall.ma website.

The same Yabiladi piece described the Israeli Merkava tank as used in the current war during assaults on the Gaza Strip, linking the toy promotion to the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

UNICEF’s report said that in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Palestinian children are paying the price of the rise in violence, with an average of one child killed every week since January 2025, totaling 70 children.

The same UNICEF piece added that 850 have been injured by gunfire, and that thousands of children have lost their homes and no longer have access to their school, to hospitals, and to other vital services.

unicef

UNICEF also said more than 60 water and sanitation facilities have been destroyed, including pipes, irrigation systems, and water tanks, reducing already fragile access to drinking water.

It further described education under pressure, saying schools are damaged or destroyed and children go to school in fear, facing violence and checkpoints.

Al-Jazeera Net reported that field testimonies inside a local market in the Gaza Strip described a sharp rise in prices and a significant drop in the movement of goods, alongside humanitarian suffering affecting children and families displaced and made homeless.

“While the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip has claimed more than 30,000 lives since October 7, 2023, the Moroccan hypermarket and supermarket chain Marjane Markets announced, on its website, the forthcoming sale of a toy modeled after the Merkava tank, by the second week of March”

Yabiladi

One citizen working in the market told Al Jazeera that the movement of goods entering has declined noticeably, and that goods have become scarce and the ability to meet demand has declined amid difficulties in import, transport, and distribution.

The article said prices rose greatly, with an item sold for about 10 shekels (about 2.7 dollars) now sold for 40 and 50 shekels (about 10.8 to 13.5 dollars), indicating increases approaching 300%, and it also described a children’s toy that rose from about 50 shekels (about 13.5 dollars) to 800 to 900 shekels (about 216 to 243 dollars).

In a separate testimony, a child said his life changed radically after his house was bombed, and he lost his home and his toys, while another speaker said children have been deprived of all signs of childhood since the start of the war.