Civil and military conflict in Gaza, particularly in the recent past, has severely affected agriculture. A recent report that came after the joint of the UN estimated that 57 percent of the agricultural land in the Gaza Strip had been affected by the brawl.
Farmer Nedal Abu Jazar of the Al-Mawasi coastal region poses with images of his trees and crops destroyed. ”Look at the destruction,” he said, raising a tomato plant that had been pulled out from the ground wholly. The impact does not stop at the level of individual farms. Gaza’s agricultural exports dropped from $44. 6 million in 2022 to zero after the October 7 unprovoked attack on southern Israel.
The worst calamity experienced was in the northern area, where 68% of agricultural land was infected. Lease-holding farmer Ibrahim Dheir of land near Rafah is in despair after losing his crops and machinery to destruction. As soon as the Israeli bulldozers and tanks entered the area, the latter started plowing other cultivated lands, he says.
According to Lars Bromley of UNOSAT, sweeping and rebuilding the areas occupied by the unexploded ordnance and the affected farmlands will be a colossal task. Ironically, even though the farmers know the dangers, they are willing to return to their farms.
Dheir’s comment, as well as that of every Gaza agriculturalist, is fairly simple, ‘We want the war to end and everything to go back to status quo and people can go back to farming their lands again as before.’
