Israeli occupation’s continuous violations destroy the agricultural sector in Gaza

Occupied Al-Quds, (ST) – The Israeli occupation has continued its attacks and violations against the agricultural sector in Gaza Strip, by depriving the Palestinians of accessing their lands and carrying out incursions into them, razing the crops, spraying the crops with toxic materials or flooding them with water. These illegal acts aim at destroying the agricultural sector and increasing the suffering of Palestinians under the siege that has been imposed on them by the occupation for more than 16 years.

The Director of the Arab Center for Agricultural Development, Mohsen Abu Ramadan said in a statement to SANA reporter that the occupation’s targeting of farmers in the Gaza Strip continues, sometimes by shooting them, and sometimes by penetrating into their lands with bulldozers, razing crops or spraying them with toxic substances, which caused the Palestinians to be deprived of investing 35 percent of their land.

He pointed out that access to most of the lands located in the north and east of the Gaza Strip is dangerous, and the occupation’s crime of repeatedly flooding the lands with water, by opening nearby dams, causes damage to large areas of land, and inflicts heavy losses on farmers.

For his part, Hussein Hammad, a researcher in legal affairs, indicated that 698 attacks on Palestinian farmers were documented last year. These attacks included fire shooting and spraying crops with chemical substances, razing 33 dunums of lands during 42 acts of incursion by the occupation bulldozers  and vehicles along the northern and eastern regions of the Strip.

Hammad added that the occupation forces continuously raze agricultural lands accompanied with fire shooting and artillery shelling, which caused damage not only to crops, but also to the environment and all walks of life related to the agricultural and animal sector. He indicated that the occupation, in a blatant violation of international law and international conventions and through its systematic acts of destruction, has created a wide area where no trees and plants exist.

For his part, environmental issues expert Tawfiq Al-Bannish affirmed that the occupation is systematically destroying the agricultural and animal sector as well as the environmental life necessary for this sector in Gaza Strip by using lethal weapons, firing toxic shells and rockets.

Al-Bannish pointed out that the occupation’s frequent opening of water dams towards the areas of Deir Al-Balah, Khan Yunis and Jabalia has had negative impacts on the soil which becomes unsuitable for agriculture. He added that the water of the dams that the occupation deliberately opens is usually contaminated with chemicals, which causes severe harm to the people, the environment and the crops, and exacerbates the human catastrophe that Palestinians have been experiencing for more than 16 years under the unjust Israeli siege.

Raghda Sawas