Tank tracks still fresh on his field in southern Gaza's coastal area of Al-Mawasi, Nedal Abu Jazar lamented the damage war has wrought on his trees and crops.
"Look at the destruction," the 39-year-old farmer told AFP, holding an uprooted tomato plant.
He pointed to his greenhouse's metal frame and its white plastic sheeting strewn across the plot, inside an area designated a humanitarian zone by the Israeli army.
"People were sitting peacefully on their farmland ... and suddenly tanks arrived and fired at us, and then there were (air) strikes."
Abu Jazar said the Israeli operation in late June destroyed about 40 dunams (10 acres) of land and killed five labourers.
His is not an isolated case. Across Gaza, 57 percent of agricultural land has been damaged since the war began, according to a joint assessment published in June by the UN's agriculture and satellite imagery agencies, FAO and UNOSAT.
The damage threatens Gaza's food sovereignty, Matieu Henry of the Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP, because 30 percent of the Palestinian territory's food consumption comes from agricultural land.
"If almost 60 percent of the agricultural land has been damaged, this may have a significant impact in terms of food security and food supply."
The Gaza Strip exported $44.6 million worth of produce in 2022, mainly to the West Bank and Israel, with strawberries and tomatoes representing 60 percent of the total, according to FAO data.
That number fell to zero after the October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 38,098 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The damage assessment on the agricultural land comes as the UN's hunger monitoring system estimated in June that 96 percent of Gaza faces high levels of acute food insecurity.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it "does not intentionally harm agricultural land".
In a statement, it said Hamas "often operates from within orchards, fields and agricultural land".
No work, no income
The impact is worse in the Palestinian territory's north, where 68 percent of agricultural land is damaged, although the southern area encompassing parts of Al-Mawasi has seen the most significant increase in recent months due to military operations.
UNOSAT's Lars Bromley told AFP the damage is generally "due to the impact of activities such as heavy vehicle activity, bombing, shelling, and other conflict-related dynamics, which would be things like areas burning".
Near the southern city of Rafah, 34-year-old farmer Ibrahim Dheir feels helpless after the destruction of 20 dunams (five acres) of land he used to lease, and all his farming equipment with it.
"As soon as the Israeli bulldozers and tanks entered the area, they began bulldozing cultivated lands with various trees, including fruits, citrus, guava, as well as crops like spinach, molokhia (jute mallow), eggplant, squash, pumpkin and sunflower seedlings," he said, before listing more damage in a testimony of the area's past agricultural abundance.
Dheir, whose family exported its produce to the West Bank and Israel, now feels destitute.
"We used to depend on agriculture for our livelihood day by day, but now there's no work or income."
Lasting damage
Farmer Abu Mahmoud Za'arab also finds himself with "no source of income".
The 60-year-old owns 15 dunams (3.7 acres) of land on which crops and fruit trees used to grow.
"The Israeli army passed through the land, completely wiping out all trees and crops," he told AFP.
"They bulldozed and shelled the land, turning it into barren pits."
The harm done to farmland in Gaza will last far beyond tank tracks and explosions, said Bromley of UNOSAT.
"With modern weaponry, a certain percentage is always going to fail. Tank shells won't explode, artillery shells won't explode ... so clearing that unexploded ordnance is a massive task," he said.
It will require "probing every centimetre of the soil before you can allow the farmers back onto it".
Despite the risks, Dheir wants to return to farming.
"We want the war to stop and things to return to how they were so we can farm and cultivate our lands again."
© 2024 AFP
14 Comments
asusa tabi
shelling of rocket launching facilities that terrorists hide in heavy civilian / farming areas?
GuruMick
Asusa tabi....take your offensive hasbara BS off the forum...your comment is a disgrace to all.
Destroying farmlands is Israeli way to ethnically cleanse the area.
Israel has degenerated into some sort of monster....but monsters can and will be destroyed.
naitch
Title should read "Gaza's farming sector ravaged by ISRAELI OCCUPATION"
nandakandamanda
War is hell.
Which side of a whirlpool is at fault?
RichardPearce
An occupying power cannot, by definition, engage in 'retaliatory strikes' on the population it is occupying.
The correct terms are 'esculatory', 'punitive', and 'criminal' or 'illegal'.
Yes, one can PRETEND that the occupying power isn't the aggressor, just like one can pretend the January 6th mob were peaceful tourists, but that doesn't make it accurate.
zibala
Right, Which is why Hamas is classified as a terrorist group for its attacks on Israel, a sovereign country, and for occupying Israel' land in Gaza.
Well, at least ELEVEN different Arab nations have tried to destroy Israel over the last 80 years.
Israel has been the victor each time.
This is why Israel must eliminate the terrorists no matter the costs.
It is the responsibility of Israeli leadership to protect its people, and if terrorists are going to suffer as a result, then that is a good thing.
GuruMick
Yes Zibala, everyones either a friend {unconditional } of Israel, or a terrorist.
Ignore every world body on the planet and continue shilling.
How's Netanyahu's "Nobel Peace Prize " application coming along ?
He would qualify for the Inaugural Idi Amin Achievement award too.
GuruMick
Haaretz Israel media, reporting "Hannibal Directive " WAS employed during Oct7 attacks.
"No vehicle must be allowed to return to Gaza " was the command.
Maybe, in some years to come, we will have a figure of casualties that is accurate.
The current 1200 "killed by Hamas " unlikely to stand.
Zaphod
naitch
Reality check: Gaza was controlled by Israel until 2005, and there was no war, only sporadic attack on Israeli villages from islamists. Gaza was ethnically cleansed of Jews by Sharon (yep, the Israeli government), in exchange for a promise of peace by the Gaza administration (then the PA).
Instead of peace, Israel got Hamas and endless terrorism, up to murderous attack on Oct 7, which started this war.
So what "OCCUPATION" are you talking about?
GuruMick
The UN calls Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as "Occupied territories. "
That's "the occupation we are talking about "
As for the "Islamist terrorist " trope....there are a number of groups fighting the occupation.
PLP is a Marxist group.
PFLP was founded by an Arab Christian.
Better check your facts boyo.
zibala
Oh--the UN says so!
Doesn't the "N" stand for "nation"?
Since there has never been a country or nations called Palestine, and because the Arabs who settled in Gaza come from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan primarily, what country could Israeli possibly be "occupying" in Gaza, and Judea and Samaria (other than Israel's own lands)?
Zaphod
GuruMick
If that is true, that only speaks to the partisanship of the UN. Technically, yes, you could call the West Bank and East Jerusalem that, ignoring all the details. But Gaza? How? There has been no Israeli military or other presence in Gaza since 2005. Gaza has been run first by the PA and then, after a bloody coup d'etat, by Hamas. Gaza was ethnically cleansed of any Jewish presence in 2005. In what world is that an "occupation"?
GuruMick
Zibala... The "N" in UN stands for NATIONS ...plural.
Dont try to outdo me ....
And Zaphod....thanks for your reply.
Israel completely controlled all aspects of Gaza and Gazan's lives from limiting imports, to denying entry of international observers to fishing boats and fishing equipment to even restricting importing baby chickens.
The complete list of restrictions was published by an ISRAELI human rights group.
Bless their cotton socks, I say.
And I curse with venom all those who enable the IDF destruction of Gaza through Hasbara.
Zaphod
RichardPearce
There has been no "occupation" of Gaza for 20 years. And about the West Bank, ask yourself how that works out if the population that is being occupied consistently votes for parties that demand war on the occupier, even after any withdrawal.
Personally, I have long argued that the only solution to the conflict is to return Gaza to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordan, both of which are proper countries. Unsurprisingly, both the Egyptian and Jordanian governments are not interested...