Israel’s destruction of hundreds of dunams of Gaza agricultural land indicates its genocidal intentions
Destroyed crops and greenhouses are all that is left of agricultural land in Al-Mawasi area, near the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis after Palestinian farmers claim Israeli strikes and tanks destroyed the area.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports on 26 September 2024:
Israel has destroyed hundreds of dunams of agricultural land, depriving Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip of agricultural land and resources vital to survival, all in support of its illegal blockade of the Strip and tight restrictions on the entry of food supplies for almost a full year. This is an expression of Israel’s insistence on committing genocide against Palestinians in the enclave.
This destruction is part of a larger Israeli plan that dates back to last October. Under this plan, Israeli forces have worked to eliminate almost 80% of the agricultural land in the Gaza Strip from use by Palestinians. Israel has done this either by isolating it in preparation for its forcible annexation to the so-called “buffer zone” or by bulldozing or destroying it by other means, such as bombardment—all of which are in violation of international law.
According to the Euro-Med Monitor field team, Israeli forces stormed the area of Al-Shimaa in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, early on Tuesday morning (25 September 2024). Accompanied by military bulldozers, the forces began their bulldozing operations, destroying more than 500 dunums of newly replanted agricultural land, which was supposed to sustain the needs of the people living in northern Gaza, who are subject to an arbitrary siege and systematic starvation by Israel.
The Israeli destruction of these agricultural lands, the majority of which were filled with eggplants, reflects Israel’s insistence on preventing the Palestinian people from depending on the region’s agricultural food basket during a period when sufficient supplies of vegetables and other foods are being kept out of the northern Gaza Strip. This has led to a severe famine, to the point where a significant portion of the people in the north have been forced to eat tree leaves and bake ground-up animal feed instead of flour.
Twenty-four-year-old farmer Yousef Saqr Abu Rabie of Beit Lahia told Euro-Med Monitor about the significant losses he incurred on Monday and Tuesday, 23-24 September, as a result of the bulldozing of dozens of dunams north of the town. Abu Rabie stated that although his land is outside of the “security zone” established by Israel at the start of the war, the bulldozing operations still occurred, and that the now-bulldozed crops had been bearing fruit that the people of northern Gaza were depending on given Israel’s restrictions on the entry of fruits and vegetables into the northern Gazan markets.