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According to the United Nations Satellite Center, 35% of agricultural land has been destroyed in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
Published on December 13, 2023 06:01
Reading time: 5 mins
Damage in the Khezaa neighborhood, on the eastern edge of the city of Khan Younes, in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 25, 2023. (MOHAMAD ZAANOUN / MIDDLE EAST IMAGES / AFP)
Concerns about food security in the Gaza Strip continue to grow. Recent satellite images showed the damage caused by the Israeli army's ground operation in orchards and greenhouses in the north and east of the enclave. It is there, far from the urban areas concentrated by the sea, that most of the 185 km2 of agricultural land is located. “The Israeli army has said in recent weeks that it has been conducting military operations in the Beit Hanoun region, particularly in an undisclosed agricultural area, to clear tunnels and other military targets,” international organization Human Rights Watch confirmed on the social network (ex-Twitter), Monday, December 4th.
The same observation in the northwest, near the village of As-Siafa, located on the border with the Jewish state. Bulldozers dug new roads there, clearing the way for Israeli military vehicles and destroying part of the livelihoods of Gaza's residents in the process. A deliberate strategy, analyzes Taher Labadi, researcher at the French Institute for the Middle East, based in Jerusalem. “Although it is difficult to know the intentions of the Israeli army, we can see that there was an explicit desire on their part to attack the economic resources of the Gaza Strip,” he explains to franceinfo.
This is not the first time that the army has degraded agricultural land for no apparent reason. A report by the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict (PDF document) on Israeli military operations in the enclave from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009 had already put the finger on these practices. “Israeli Armed Forces armored bulldozers systematically destroyed the chicken coops, killing the 31,000 chickens there and destroying the buildings and equipment necessary to run the farm. The mission concludes that this was a deliberate act of indiscriminate destruction, which was not “justified by any military necessity,” the report says.
From subsistence agriculture to resistance agriculture
Why target such establishments? “These practices make it possible to increase the pressure on the population and thus also on Hamas,” explains Taher Labadi. Therefore, on October 26, the NGO Oxfam condemned the use of famine as a weapon of war against the population of the Gaza Strip.
But there is another, more political reason. Part of the agricultural sector in the Gaza Strip has developed into self-sufficiency in order to be as less dependent on Israel as possible. “Since 2006 and 2007, Hamas has explicitly promoted resilient agriculture in its programs aimed directly at the population of Gaza, who value crops that require little water and space,” the researcher recalls. The aim was to minimize the use of imported fertilizers and substitute equipment for agricultural machinery by developing more ecological and sustainable agriculture.
A practice that is completely at odds with the practice established during the Israeli occupation of the territory. At that time, agricultural policy focused on specialization in certain products such as cherry tomatoes, strawberries and flowers, all destined for export. “Agriculture only accounts for 8.5% of Gaza’s GDP, but in reality there is an entire economy that we cannot formalize and quantify. This is why we talk about local subsistence farming, because it does not generate much income and is not formal employment, although there are both,” explains Taher Labadi. “For an economy to generate income, market exchange and accounting are necessary. This was the agriculture that Israel advocated when it was in control.”
About 15% of arable land is significantly degraded
Since space is limited and the population density is extremely high, ingenious ideas had to be developed to feed the 1.9 million inhabitants. Especially since access to around 35% of Gaza's arable land and 85% of marine fishing zones remains restricted by the “buffer zone” established by Israel.
Areas previously used to grow strawberries and cherry tomatoes were therefore used to grow fruits and vegetables with low water requirements. Olive trees, date palms and palm trees have grown in such abundance “because they use little water and can tolerate salty water,” adds Taher Labadi. Agricultural scientists have developed layered farming techniques to save soil space. Finally, the use of hydroponics has made it possible to transform roofs and balconies into real vegetable gardens. “The only sectors that still rely entirely on imports are those of red meat and seeds (wheat, rice) because they require too much space,” explains the researcher.
In a report (PDF document) based on satellite images from 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations managed to determine the distribution of different types of crops in the Palestinian enclave. According to this study, 32.32% of the Gaza Strip would be covered by orchards growing mainly citrus fruits, lemons, dates, olives and almonds, 5.97% by irrigated crops (strawberries, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, etc.), and 5 .18% % through so-called rain-fed agricultural areas, which follow the cycle of annual rainfall.
Since October 7th, the area of this agricultural land has continued to decrease. The United Nations Satellite Center states on its website that around 15% of Gaza's arable land showed a significant decline in health and density as of November 2023 compared to the average for the previous six years. This destruction is more pronounced in the north, where 35% of the country is affected.