For first time in 57 years, Gaza strawberries not around to bring joy

With the sun burning the back of their necks, Palestinian farmers start working the strawberry fields in the city of Beit Lahia, close to the Israeli border in northern Gaza, in early September.

They till the sandy soil and plant the seedlings, which are imported after clearing a cumbersome process that Israel put in place since imposing an economic blockade on Gaza in 2007.

The cultivation starts in November. It’s a time of festivities as farmers and their families come together to go around the fields gathering strawberries.

But this year, nothing was left to harvest as the Israeli military bombed and flattened hundreds of acres of Palestinian farmland.

“All of our efforts, sweat, and labour vanished within minutes”, says 24-year-old Palestinian farmer Yousef Abu Rabee, a resident of Beit Lahia, describing the devastation wrought upon the farms.

“I was in shock when I saw the destruction and devastation of our crops, lands, trees, orchards, farms, and greenhouses…our livelihoods. It was a very difficult moment; the war destroyed everything we had built over the years”.

The Israeli war on Gaza, in which more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, has created a humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations and other aid agencies.

A famine is looming over more than 2 million civilians who have been squeezed into a tiny area in southern Gaza as the Israeli military has gradually taken over most of the other parts of the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Besides the food shortage created by Israel’s refusal to let aid trucks reach desperate Palestinians, airstrikes and shellings have destroyed local farmlands that once fed a large number of the people.

Based on an analysis of satellite imagery released in January, the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) made a grim assessment of the ongoing Israeli strikes’ devastating impact on the North, which Palestinian farmers describe as “Gaza’s food basket”.

The damaged cropland area in North Gaza amounts to 1,230 hectares out of 3,099 hectares, representing 39.7 percent of the total agricultural area, it said.

Satellite images show that large tracts of orchards and farmlands in cities such as Deir Al Balah in Central, near the fertile Wadi Gaza, and Khan Younis in the South, once-designated as ‘safe zones’ by the Israeli army, have also been razed.

The damage extends beyond agricultural land, with over one-fifth of Gaza’s greenhouses and one-third of irrigation infrastructure levelled, according to the data shared by FAO.

A legacy turned to dust

For generations, the annual harvesting season starting in November has been a source of joy and celebration for thousands of Gaza’s strawberry farmers and family members. The tradition dates back to 1967 when strawberry cultivation first took root in the region.

“Strawberry farming is our pride here in Beit Lahia”, says Abu Rabee. “It is one of Palestine’s most vital crops, known for its productivity and export potential. It holds particular significance for the Gaza Strip, especially in Beit Lahia, where it is famous.”

Strawberry cultivation has transformed the region into a tourist attraction, drawing visitors from across Gaza, he says.

So popular is the fruit that Beit Lahia’s municipality’s official seal depicts water, sun, strawberry, and apple.

Ali Al Keelani, president of the Gaza Agricultural Cooperative Society in Beit Lahia, says it was natural for farmers to adopt strawberry farming.

"God has blessed Beit Lahia's land with fertile soil, a suitable climate, and freshwater — essential elements for cultivating strawberries," he says.

"This practice has been passed down through generations, shaping the livelihoods of most of the town's residents. They have excelled in strawberry cultivation for decades."

Since a majority of Beit Lahia's population of 98,000 people, resides in agricultural areas and relies on strawberry cultivation as their main source of income, Al Keelani says they have made a special connection with the land.

It is "a bond akin to that of a son with his father — a relationship steeped in love, belonging, and sacrifice, integral to their lives," he tells TRT World.

But Israel has now turned that social fabric and lives of the farmers upside down.

Recalling his earliest involvement in farming, Abu Rabee, the young farmer, recounts accompanying his father to the fields during school breaks when he began learning about the farming business.

"I inherited this profession from my father, who is a farmer. It runs in the family, from my grandfather to my father, uncles, and now us. This instilled in me a deep love for agriculture and a desire to innovate and develop it.”

Despite facing initial resistance from his father, Yousef pursued studies in Agricultural Engineering as he dreamed of increasing the productivity of the agricultural sector, particularly strawberry cultivation in their town.

With a diploma in Agricultural Engineering from Gaza’s Al Azhar University, Abu Rabee was on track to graduate with a Plant Production and Protection degree this semester. But the Israeli war abruptly put a stop to his academic pursuits.

This season, strawberry farmers cultivated a significantly large area of 4,500 dunums, incurring substantial costs. (Each dunum – a unit of land area - equals 1,000 square metres).

"The estimated cost per dunum is $3000, so the losses are staggering," says Abu Rabee.

In addition to the devastation of family crops, farms, and nurseries, a greenhouse for hydroponic farming where Abu Rabee experimented with new farming and irrigation techniques was reduced to rubble.

"It was my personal project, where I carried out experiments to reduce the costs of traditional farming methods. But the war erased everything."

The agricultural sector contributed approximately 11 percent to Gaza’s economic output in 2022 and employed a large number of people, says the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

Agricultural products constituted over 50 percent of the territory’s exports, with the added value of agricultural activities estimated at $343 million.

Nizar Al Wahidi, General Director of Guidance and Development of the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza, highlights Northern Gaza's vital role as the agricultural heartland of the entire region.

"Northern Gaza has the best water quality in all Gaza and sandy soil along the coast, as well as clayey to loamy soil in the east”, he says.

“With this unique combination, the north is renowned for producing the finest strawberries, cauliflowers, vegetables, olives, citrus, and grapes in the region.”

Famine looms in the North

Since Israel’s war on the region started more than five months ago, the halt in harvesting and widespread damage to vital infrastructure have significantly crippled Gaza’s capacity to produce vegetables and fruits, severely affecting the entire food supply chain.

A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reveals that 44 percent of Palestinian households in Gaza have lost their local agricultural production sources used for household consumption. The remaining 56 percent of final consumption depends on agricultural imports, which ceased during Israel's deadly military offensive.

Nearly all of Gaza's population of 2.2 million people are now facing a severe food crisis.

The loss of domestic food supplies and import capacity has led to a sharp rise in prices of basic necessities in the central and southern regions of Gaza, where little food is available in the markets, exacerbating the looming famine.

"Israel’s war has pushed our poverty line from $300 for a family of five to $1500 due to the siege and wartime price hikes,” says Nizar, who still lives in the North.

“Now, we are being starved; our infants and elderly people are dying from malnutrition and severe hunger."

The Palestinian Health Ministry says that more than two dozen people including babies have died from malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza due to the Israeli blockade.

Nowhere to return

Israeli forces have been systematically razing down all structures within a kilometre of the border between Israel and Gaza, which includes large agricultural areas. This is being done to create a buffer zone.

“The previous buffer zone extended approximately 500 metres along the eastern and northern borders. Now, we are prohibited from entering beyond one kilometre, with new restricted areas emerging parallel to Wadi Gaza, averaging three kilometres in width from Street No. 8 in the north to Wadi Gaza,” says Nizar.

In a press release on February 8, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned of the grave consequences of the Israeli army's attempt to hinder the return of the Palestinians to these areas by implementing buffer zones.

“Such destruction of homes and other essential civilian infrastructure … appears to be aimed at or has the effect of rendering the return of civilians to these areas impossible”, Turk stated, adding that “I remind the authorities that forcible transfer of civilians may constitute a war crime.”

The imposition of buffer zones and restricted areas exacerbates the plight of Gaza's farmers, robbing them of critical agricultural land.

Should agricultural lands fall within the new buffer zone, Nizar warns that one-third of the agricultural production will be lost, with no available substitute land.

“We'll never be able to achieve the same level of productivity in the other parts of Gaza.”