‘Israeli’ Planes Spray Farmlands near Gaza with Toxic Herbicides

By Staff, Agencies

Zionist planes sprayed toxic chemical substances and dangerous pesticides on farmlands near the Gaza Strip as the Tel Aviv regime presses ahead with its acts of aggression against the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave.

According to a Wednesday report by ‘Israeli’ newspaper Haaretz, the Zionist military sprayed the area in close proximity to the fence separating the Gaza Strip from the ‘Israeli’-occupied territories for three days last week.

Also the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry said ‘Israeli’ pesticides damaged 14,000 dunams of agricultural land in Gaza from 2014 through 2018, destroying all the crops that had been sown there.

Palestinian farmers said 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 authorities to cease spraying after the practice resumed last week, saying there were “serious fears” that it had already harmed farmers in the area.

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 testimonies that the pesticides spread into Gaza, reaching a distance of more than 300 meters from the Gaza-occupied territories fence.

Gaza has been under ‘Israeli’ enemy’s siege since June 2007.

Since 2008, the ‘Israeli’ apartheid entity has waged three wars against Gaza, where about two million Palestinians live under a 12-year Zionist blockade. Thousands of Gazans have been martyred in each of these deadly wars.