ZIAD AL-ZAYYAN traded his home for his freedom. For years he ran a profitable business importing ceramic tiles to Gaza. In 2016 he took out a loan to pay for an order worth 80,000 shekels ($20,830). But in a besieged territory with 43% unemployment, fewer and fewer people can afford to fix up their homes. Mr Zayyan could not find any customers for his last order. Desperate to pay off his creditors, he sold his flat in Nuseirat, a refugee camp south of Gaza City. He got $17,000 for it, 23% less than what he paid three years earlier. “All of that money went to cover the loan,” he says.

His alternative was jail. Most countries have abolished debtors’ prisons. Palestine should have, too. It signed a UN treaty that forbids them. But they still exist in Gaza, which has been ruled since 2007 by Hamas, a militant Islamist group. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on the territory after it took power. Last year the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the West Bank, added its own sanctions to press Hamas into ceding control. The PA has cut public-sector pay in Gaza by over 40% and forced thousands of civil servants into retirement.

The economy, stagnant for a decade, has gone into freefall. Last year Gazans bounced cheques worth more than 400m shekels, an 80% increase over 2016. More than 42,000 people were arrested for falling behind on their debts. Issa Habash, a grocer in Nuseirat, estimates that two-thirds of his customers owe him money. Hoping to cut back on the practice, he no longer sells full-sized containers of many staples. Instead he offers tiny bottles of vegetable oil and sachets of coffee. “They cost only one shekel, and people still put them in the book,” Mr Habash says, gesturing to his ledger.

Raed al-Shawa supplies gas to 1,500 customers in northern Gaza. His residential clients have always struggled to pay. Last year, though, even factories and restaurants started bouncing cheques. He stopped accepting them and now demands cash up front. “We lost 40% of our usual sales,” he says. That means he cannot always pay his 22 employees on time. He worries they will fall behind on their own debts, deepening the cycle.

The unluckiest find themselves in front of Muhammad Nofal, one of two financial judges in Gaza City. His court handles up to 40 cases each day. Not all of the guilty go to jail; some work out deferments or payment plans. In March the public prosecutor offered a one-month amnesty for debtors to settle up. Still, Mr Nofal has sent hundreds to jail over the past year for terms ranging from months to years, depending on the debt.

Mr Zayyan wants to wind down his business, but no one wants to buy his inventory or his commercial property. He spends his days idling in cafés, occasionally selling small batches of his remaining tiles. No longer a homeowner, he pays 1,000 shekels a month for a rented apartment. His savings are running out and he fears he will soon fall behind on the rent. “I’m reaching the breaking point,” he says. “I can’t continue. But I can’t leave, either.”