UN News Service Today, only three percent of Gaza’s agricultural land remains usable. Only three percent of Gaza’s arable land remains usable Economic Development
As fighting continues in Gaza, farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to find safe land to grow crops.
Only three percent of Gaza’s farmland remains usable today, 448 hectares, down from 601 hectares in October 2025, according to an analysis of satellite imagery released Tuesday by FAO and the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT).
“This latest assessment paints a grim picture of the ongoing decline of Gaza’s agricultural sector,” – said Rein Paulsen, Director of FAO’s Office of Emergency Operations and Resilience.
“Without urgent action to restore safe access to land and provide the necessary support to farmers, the ability to revive local food production will continue to decline,” he added.
“There is nothing left”
For cucumber and tomato farmer Taysir Dahduh, the war in Gaza, which broke out after Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, has taken a devastating toll. “Before the war, I had a good income,” he recalls. “Suddenly we were left with nothing… Even the metal frames of the greenhouses were gone, as were our homes, property and irrigation pipes. There was nothing left.”
Having returned home after being forced to move, Dakhduh and his family tried to restore their plot using simple tools. “We managed to restore about one dunum of land, about one tenth of a hectare, and bring it back to life,” he said.
A farmer from Gaza, Wajiha Dahduh, spoke about her serious problems: “We returned to be self-sufficient, to farm again in order to survive. Unfortunately, there is not enough water, there are no fertilizers, seeds and other things without which people cannot continue to live and work. Gases are explained mainly by lack of access, rather than by new destruction as a result of the war. Thus, in June 2026, access remained to just over four thousand hectares of Gaza’s agricultural land, or 27 percent of its total area. However, about 3,600 hectares of it were unsuitable for cultivation.
According to FAO, the area of available land fell most sharply in Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis. The main reason was the shift to the west of the so-called Yellow Line, which separates the ceasefire zone from the territory under the military control of the Israel Defense Forces. respectively.
“The most extensive physical destruction continues to be concentrated in the provinces of North Gaza and Gaza,” the agency noted. This is confirmed by satellite images.
The situation of the residents of Gaza remains extremely difficult. Over the past weekend alone, UN partners reported numerous airstrikes and shelling, mostly west of the Yellow Line. It is there that the majority of the population of the sector is concentrated today.