After destroying Gaza's ecology, did Israel deserve a seat at COP29?

Despite creating unprecedented levels of soil, water and air pollution in Gaza over the last 13 months, Israel is surprisingly allowed a seat at the table in COP29, the 29th edition of a UN-backed climate change conference currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The purpose of COP29 is to unite world nations under the shared goals of mitigating climate change and safeguarding vulnerable populations—objectives that Israel has demonstrably acted against, particularly since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

“Israel’s participation in COP29 not only insults Palestinians but also undermines the very values the summit claims to uphold,” says Ahmed Najar, a Palestinian political analyst and playwright.

The UN Environment Programme estimates that intensive bombardment by Israel has led to “unprecedented intensity of destruction” of Gaza’s productive assets, demolishing its sewage, wastewater and solid waste management systems.

Israel has killed almost 44,000 Palestinians, while the number of bodies still buried under the rubble of bombed homes is estimated to be over 10,000.

The destruction of Gaza’s buildings, roads and other infrastructure has generated over 39 million tonnes of debris – some of which is contaminated with unexploded ordnance, asbestos and other hazardous substances.

“When water wells are destroyed, soil is poisoned and entire neighbourhoods are reduced to rubble, the land itself becomes inhospitable. How can the world overlook this?” Najar says.

Running with the hare, hunting with the hounds

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories has contributed to ecological disaster, particularly since the beginning of the full-blown war on Gaza that’s on its 411th day.

Numerous reports by environmental organisations have highlighted how Israel’s recent bombing – along with decades-old exploitation of natural resources in Gaza and the occupied West Bank – has wreaked an environmental catastrophe and caused irreversible damage to the local communities.

For example, Israel has been accused of overexploiting shared water resources, leaving Palestinians with limited access to clean water.

With Gaza’s five wastewater treatment plants shut down, Israel’s war on Gaza has left water, sanitation and hygiene systems almost entirely defunct.

This undermines the principles of environmental justice and equity, which are central to the mission of COP summits.

Israel has been dropping US-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions bombs, including precision-guided 450- and 900-kilogram “bunker-busters” that turn “earth to liquid”.

According to Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon defence official and a war crimes investigator for the UN, Israel’s bombardment “pancakes entire buildings” in Gaza.

Allowing Israel to participate in COP29 while it openly engages in practices that harm both ecosystems and marginalised communities sends a contradictory message about the summit’s commitment to environmental justice.

Climate destruction through military means

Spread over only 139 square miles as opposed to Israel’s 8,355 square miles, Gaza is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.

The urban area around Gaza City has an average of 21,000 people per square mile, compared to Tel Aviv’s 13,480.

Israel’s extensive bombing campaigns have contributed to habitat destruction, pollution and long-term environmental degradation in the occupied territories.

According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health (GIWEH), as much as 97 percent of Gaza’s water has become contaminated.

The situation has become “substantially worse” because of an acute electricity crisis that stifles the operation of water wells and sewage treatment plants.

About 80 percent of Gaza’s untreated sewage is discharged into the sea while the rest seeps into underground water.

“Most of Gaza’s infrastructure…has been destroyed or damaged, an obliteration that seems designed to make life unliveable. In the past year alone, more bombs have been dropped on Gaza per square mile than in any other region in modern history, carving deep scars into the land,” says Najar, the Palestinian political analyst.

In addition to the targeted destruction of water infrastructure, Israel has also taken out the extensive network of solar panels in Gaza.

Gaza has seen a steep increase in solar panel installations as their number increased from just 12 in 2012 to 8,760 in 2022.

However, Israel’s targeted bombing of these solar panels has compounded the environmental risks by introducing “significant contamination hazards”.

The debris from destroyed solar panels now poses new environmental hazards, according to a preliminary assessment of the environmental impact of Israel’s war on Gaza by the UN Environment Programme.

“Preliminary data obtained during the preparation of the Interim Damage Assessment suggests that destruction of 67 MW of solar PV systems… has contributed to the release of hazardous material into the environment, including an estimated 1,675 kg of lead,” it said.

Similarly, Israel has also resorted to “systematic uprooting” of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian olive trees.

One estimate shows that Israeli authorities have uprooted over 800,000 Palestinian olive trees since 1967. For context, the deliberate destruction is equivalent to razing all 24,000 trees in New York’s Central Park 33 times.

By including Israel in COP29 without holding it accountable for the ecological catastrophe it is unleashing on Gaza, the summit risks side-lining the voices of those who are most affected by climate change.

“For Palestinians, justice and environmental protection are not luxuries but necessities for survival. The world must take a stand – for people and for the planet,” says Najar.