Zionist Regime Sprays Toxic Pesticides Near Gaza Farms
GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s planes have reportedly sprayed toxic chemical substances and dangerous pesticides on farmlands near the Gaza Strip as the occupying regime presses ahead with its acts of aggression against the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Wednesday that the Israeli army sprayed the area in close proximity to the fence separating the Gaza Strip from the Israeli-occupied territories for three days last week.
The report added that the Zionist regime’s ministry of military affairs has defended the aerial spraying after having refrained from it throughout last year, claiming that it was necessary to destroy "vegetation that obscures soldiers’ view of the area.”
According to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry, Israeli pesticides damaged 14,000 dunams (3,459 acres) of agricultural land in Gaza from 2014 through 2018, destroying all the crops that had been sown there.
Palestinian farmers told Haaretz that 2019 was an excellent year for them as there was no spraying.
Three human rights organizations, namely Gisha, Adalah and al-Mezan, immediately urged the Zionist regime’s authorities to cease spraying after the practice resumed last week, saying there were "serious fears” that it had already harmed farmers in the area.
Anwar Jamali, a Gazan farmer, said he and his fellow farmers were given no advance notice of the spraying.
"In previous years, there was major damage. Sometimes dozens of dunams of wheat, barley and parsley were completely lost,” he said.
Jamali added that the stench of the pesticides causes people to leave the area if they can, "but barley can’t get up and leave.”
According to Palestinian farmers, while spraying is done on the Israeli-occupied territories, "the wind then carries the pesticides into Gaza.”
A Forensic Architecture report from 2019 confirmed Palestinian claims that the pesticides spread into Gaza, reaching a distance of more than 300 meters from the Gaza-occupied territories fence.
In another development in Gaza, three Palestinians have been shot and killed by the Zionist troops.
The army says that the Palestinians were killed near the separation fence in the Gaza Strip. No further detail was immediately available about the victims.
The Zionist troops regularly gun down Palestinians in Gaza, accusing them of attempting to enter the occupied territories or carrying out attacks on its forces.
About 310 Palestinians have been killed by Zionist troops ever since the anti-occupation protests began in Gaza. More than 18,000 other Palestinians have also sustained injuries.
The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, 2018, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East al-Quds.
Gaza has been under siege by the regime since June 2007.
Since 2008, the Zionist regime has waged three wars against Gaza, where about two million Palestinians live under a 12-year Israeli blockade. Thousands of Gazans have been killed in each of these deadly wars.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Wednesday that the Israeli army sprayed the area in close proximity to the fence separating the Gaza Strip from the Israeli-occupied territories for three days last week.
The report added that the Zionist regime’s ministry of military affairs has defended the aerial spraying after having refrained from it throughout last year, claiming that it was necessary to destroy "vegetation that obscures soldiers’ view of the area.”
According to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry, Israeli pesticides damaged 14,000 dunams (3,459 acres) of agricultural land in Gaza from 2014 through 2018, destroying all the crops that had been sown there.
Palestinian farmers told Haaretz that 2019 was an excellent year for them as there was no spraying.
Three human rights organizations, namely Gisha, Adalah and al-Mezan, immediately urged the Zionist regime’s authorities to cease spraying after the practice resumed last week, saying there were "serious fears” that it had already harmed farmers in the area.
Anwar Jamali, a Gazan farmer, said he and his fellow farmers were given no advance notice of the spraying.
"In previous years, there was major damage. Sometimes dozens of dunams of wheat, barley and parsley were completely lost,” he said.
Jamali added that the stench of the pesticides causes people to leave the area if they can, "but barley can’t get up and leave.”
According to Palestinian farmers, while spraying is done on the Israeli-occupied territories, "the wind then carries the pesticides into Gaza.”
A Forensic Architecture report from 2019 confirmed Palestinian claims that the pesticides spread into Gaza, reaching a distance of more than 300 meters from the Gaza-occupied territories fence.
In another development in Gaza, three Palestinians have been shot and killed by the Zionist troops.
The army says that the Palestinians were killed near the separation fence in the Gaza Strip. No further detail was immediately available about the victims.
The Zionist troops regularly gun down Palestinians in Gaza, accusing them of attempting to enter the occupied territories or carrying out attacks on its forces.
About 310 Palestinians have been killed by Zionist troops ever since the anti-occupation protests began in Gaza. More than 18,000 other Palestinians have also sustained injuries.
The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, 2018, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East al-Quds.
Gaza has been under siege by the regime since June 2007.
Since 2008, the Zionist regime has waged three wars against Gaza, where about two million Palestinians live under a 12-year Israeli blockade. Thousands of Gazans have been killed in each of these deadly wars.