Agricultural Lands in Gaza
There is neither much nor little evidence to support the Palestinian people's right to food in the Gaza Strip, as it is a human right. However, given the double standards of humanitarian and human rights groups, the criminal Zionist occupation has made discussing this right a topic that requires in-depth discussion.
Israel has worked extensively and methodically over the past year to eliminate the food basket, which includes all local food production components, including fruits, vegetables, and meats. As part of the ongoing slaughter in Gaza since October 7 of last year, it has also prevented food deliveries and humanitarian relief, further reinforcing its starvation strategy. In keeping with its insistence on carrying out a collective extermination of Palestinians in northern Gaza, Israel has also destroyed hundreds of dunums of arable land by enforcing living conditions that result in physical destruction, starvation, the destruction of essential survival resources, and the denial of agricultural production. This occurs while food supplies are being severely restricted from entering the Gaza Strip due to an ongoing unlawful blockade.
Israeli soldiers have demolished and ruined all agricultural lands east and north of Gaza along the security fence, down to a depth of almost two kilometers, according to the Human Rights Monitor. In blatant defiance of international law, this has essentially removed almost 96 square kilometers in an effort to annex them to the buffer zone. An additional 3 square kilometers have been added as a result of the building of a road and a buffer zone that divide Gaza City from its center along the Netzarim axis. Approximately 27.5% of the Gaza Strip is made up of this region. The Monitor added that farmers are unable to access lands that have survived the devastation because of ongoing bombings and invasions in a number of regions. Furthermore, the lack of water brought on by power outages, water well devastation, and fuel shortages prevents adjacent areas from being farmed or irrigated. This has happened as a result of Israeli forces blocking and impeding the supply of supplies and help to locals and displaced people.
Ending this ongoing collective and brutal crime, lifting the illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, and saving this region—which has become uninhabitable due to Israeli crimes beyond comprehension—are the only ways to fulfill the internationally recognized fundamental human right to access food and water.