[News] “We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees Have Been Destroyed”

Mon Oct 20 15:26:26 EDT 2025

“We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees 
Have Been Destroyed”
Gaza’s olive groves have been bulldozed by the Israeli military, dried 
up from lack of water, or remain inaccessible, leaving Palestinian 
farmers with little to harvest.
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏ 
     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏ 
     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏ 
     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏ 
     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏ 
     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     
͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏ 
     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏     ͏   
  ͏     ͏     ͏     

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here 
<https://substack.com/redirect/2/eyJlIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZHJvcHNpdGVuZXdzLmNvbS9zdWJzY3JpYmU_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249ZW1haWwtc3Vic2NyaWJlJnI9bHZwcGImbmV4dD1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5kcm9wc2l0ZW5ld3MuY29tJTJGcCUyRmdhemEtb2xpdmUtZ3JvdmVzLW9pbC1mYXJtZXJzLWlzcmFlbC13YXIiLCJwIjoxNzY2NTc5NjMsInMiOjI1MTAzNDgsImYiOnRydWUsInUiOjM2NzUxNTgzLCJpYXQiOjE3NjA5ODI0ODksImV4cCI6MjA3NjU1ODQ4OSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTAiLCJzdWIiOiJsaW5rLXJlZGlyZWN0In0.zth6GMpluMCw_ea0LTPawm5AE3HEgUs_uFd6uUc8v4Y?> 
for more

  “We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees
  Have Been Destroyed”
  <https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=176657963&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=lvppb&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTc2NjU3OTYzLCJpYXQiOjE3NjA5ODI0ODksImV4cCI6MTc2MzU3NDQ4OSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTI1MTAzNDgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.hGblx6bZUKl9Qig_x5Ohv3s19veeNa6hX8KyYKpF6hs>

      Gaza’s olive groves have been bulldozed by the Israeli military,
      dried up from lack of water, or remain inaccessible, leaving
      Palestinian farmers with little to harvest.

Drop Site News <https://substack.com/@dropsitenews>

Oct 20, 2025

<https://substack.com/@dropsitenews>

<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=176657963&utm_source=substack&isFreemail=true&submitLike=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTc2NjU3OTYzLCJyZWFjdGlvbiI6IuKdpCIsImlhdCI6MTc2MDk4MjQ4OSwiZXhwIjoxNzYzNTc0NDg5LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjUxMDM0OCIsInN1YiI6InJlYWN0aW9uIn0._yVNsqVHaMQyekhb15eA-ekzv1dv9x2z7FQDwqoDmWc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-reaction&r=lvppb> 

<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=176657963&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&isFreemail=true&comments=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTc2NjU3OTYzLCJpYXQiOjE3NjA5ODI0ODksImV4cCI6MTc2MzU3NDQ4OSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTI1MTAzNDgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.hGblx6bZUKl9Qig_x5Ohv3s19veeNa6hX8KyYKpF6hs&r=lvppb&utm_campaign=email-half-magic-comments&action=post-comment&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email> 

<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=176657963&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&action=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=lvppb&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTc2NjU3OTYzLCJpYXQiOjE3NjA5ODI0ODksImV4cCI6MTc2MzU3NDQ4OSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTI1MTAzNDgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.hGblx6bZUKl9Qig_x5Ohv3s19veeNa6hX8KyYKpF6hs> 

<https://substack.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.srPJwV3AgEwKQE5T3LgvWdG0bLQ5d_ret-_aEnF05fY?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email> 

READ IN APP 
<https://open.substack.com/pub/dropsitenews/p/gaza-olive-groves-oil-farmers-israel-war?utm_source=email&redirect=app-store&utm_campaign=email-read-in-app> 

/On Sunday, the first day of the olive harvest in the village of 
Turmus’ayyer, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a group of 
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians farmers and residents in a brutal 
assault that left many people injured, including a Palestinian women who 
was knocked unconscious with a club. The incident was captured on video 
<https://substack.com/redirect/15c65791-2ead-4b85-aa4a-763eb199039b?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>by 
journalist Jasper Nathaniel who said Israeli soldiers in the area led a 
group of Palestinian famers “directly into a brutal ambush by armed 
settlers.”/

/Drop Site spoke to Nathaniel about what happened. You can listen to the 
interview *here 
<https://substack.com/redirect/1e5a8cbc-365d-41ec-8fb2-d5b08a8424d3?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>*./

/In Gaza, Palestinian farmers are missing their third consecutive olive 
harvest as Israel’s war on the enclave has all but decimated Gaza’s 
olive groves. Gaza-based journalist Mohamed Suleiman spoke to olive 
farmers and agricultural experts to report on the state of olives and 
the olive oil industry in Gaza two years into the war and as a fragile 
“ceasefire” has taken hold./

/We have a commitment to ensuring that our journalism is not locked 
behind a paywall. But the only way we can sustain this is through the 
voluntary support of our community of readers. If you are a free 
subscriber and you support our work, please consider upgrading to a paid 
subscription 
<https://substack.com/redirect/80973c0c-3390-42aa-98e9-46d1af9b5e1c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>or 
gifting one 
<https://substack.com/redirect/70766675-0e40-4530-b1ab-e69106671213?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to 
a friend or family member./

/— Sharif Abdel Kouddous/

<https://substack.com/redirect/8d6f11b2-551b-47e7-94f5-94fa9935dfb4?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>The 
Abu Zidan olive press in central Gaza, one of the few olive presses 
still functioning in the enclave. October 9, 2025. (Photo by Mohamed 
Suleiman.)

/Story by Mohamed Suleiman/

AL-MAWASI KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA STRIP—The last time Hajj Suleiman Abdel-Nabi 
witnessed a normal olive harvest was three years ago.

Days before the “ceasefire” went into effect on October 10, the 
75-year-old farmer took a saw to what remains of his three-dunam (about 
three quarters of an acre) olive farm in southern Gaza’s Al-Mawasi area. 
Alongside the massive destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure 
wrought by Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, the toll on agriculture and 
farmland in the enclave has been equally devastating. With Gaza’s water 
resources severely depleted, half of Abdel-Nabi’s olive trees have dried 
up and died.

“Water became more precious than gold,” he says. “How can I ask for 
water for trees when people are dying of thirst?”

Israel’s war on Gaza that began in October 2023—at the height of the 
olive harvest—all but stopped in the same season with last week’s 
“ceasefire.” Over the past two years, nearly 68,000 Palestinians have 
been confirmed killed, in what is widely acknowledged to be a vast 
undercount, and entire cities and towns have been reduced to rubble. 
Israel’s siege and starvation campaign triggered a famine across much of 
the enclave. Despite the genocidal assault that devastated their crops 
and sent costs skyrocketing, Palestinian farmers in Gaza were still 
preparing for the olive harvest, even though there are barely any olives 
left to pick.

“The olive trees have become firewood now,” he said bitterly. “I feel 
pain with every cut—not just for the loss, but because these trees are 
life itself. For Palestinians, they are a symbol of steadfastness. When 
they die, it feels like another disaster.”

Abdel-Nabi’s son, also named Suleiman, helped his father cut the dead 
tree trunks, hoping to save the few trees that still showed faint signs 
of life. A neighboring farmer recently installed a solar-powered 
well—one of the only ways to draw groundwater after Gaza’s power grid 
was targeted in the first days of the war—and Abdel-Nabi hoped to borrow 
some water to revive whatever trees he could.

An August assessment 
<https://substack.com/redirect/40473496-384c-436c-ac2d-c2a1447812e0?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>, 
based on satellite data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of 
the United Nations and the United Nations Satellite Centre, found that 
98.5 percent of cropland in the Gaza Strip is either damaged, 
inaccessible, or both. “This means that only 1.5 percent of cropland in 
Gaza—232 hectares—is currently available for cultivation, down from 4.6 
percent (688 hectares) as of April 2025, in a territory with over 2 
million people,” the report said.

“Most of the trees are gone,” Mohammed Abu Odeh, an agricultural expert 
in the horticulture sector, told Drop Site. “But some farmers are 
risking their lives to pick what remains.”

“The olive harvest is central to life in Gaza,” he added. “More than 
10,000 families depend on it, and olive oil is part of every meal. But 
with production collapsing and aid restricted, even a few liters of oil 
have become treasures.” Today, a single liter of olive oil sells for 
about 100 shekels (about $30)—nearly double last year’s price. “It’s 
almost impossible to find,” Abu Odeh said.

Abdel-Nabi, a father of 12 children and grandfather of 35, used to 
harvest more than 35 gallons of olive oil each year—about half from 
Al-Mawasi and half from two dunams (about half an acre) of century-old 
trees in Khan Younis. The trees in Al-Mawasi have not been irrigated or 
fertilized since the beginning war, leaving all the trees dry and dead, 
save for a handful he is trying to revive. In Khan Younis, the Israeli 
military bulldozed his entire orchard.

	<https://substack.com/redirect/95bb9023-b722-420f-a484-5a18f021e4c7?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM> 	

Hajj Suleiman Abdel-Nabi’s olive farm in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, has 
gone dry from a lack of water as a result of the war. October 9, 2025. 
(Photo by Mohamed Suleiman.)

With no harvest, Abdel-Nabi now has to buy olives and olive oil instead 
of selling them. “This year, I buy the same olives and oil I once sold,” 
he says. “I used to sell a kilo of olives for two dollars—now I buy them 
for ten. A liter of olive oil that once cost $10 now costs for $25.”

He wipes away tears as he looks over the stumps. “The olive season was 
our happiest time of year,” he said. “We would gather to pick, sing, and 
eat together. Now that joy is gone—like everything else this war has taken.”

In central Gaza, 21-year-old Ahmed al-Adini arrived at a small olive 
press on Salah al-Din Road. Al-Adini is recently married and his wife is 
expecting their first child this month. His olive harvest barely yielded 
170 kilograms this season, down from an average of a ton before the war.

With the help of his father and brothers, he carried sacks of olives by 
donkey cart to the press. “We could hardly water the trees,” he said. 
“The land was next to Israeli tank positions for months.”

Still, the family has insisted on harvesting its crops. “For my father, 
it’s not just oil—it’s identity,” Ahmed said. “We want to taste oil from 
our own trees, not from somewhere we don’t trust. The olive tree tells 
us we are still alive.”

      *A Symbol of Steadfastness*

For Palestinians, the olive tree is more than just a crop; it’s a 
cultural anchor, passed down through generations and woven into memory 
and resistance. Trapped in a suffocating Israeli siege since 2007, 
Palestinians in Gaza have long relied on local agriculture as one of the 
few ways to survive. Now, even that has been stripped away.

At another press, 43-year-old Mohammed Abu Jleidan arrived by bicycle, 
pushing a small cart with his two sons: 13-year-old Yusuf and 
14-year-old Mo’tasem. They brought 270 kilograms of olives from three 
dunams of land (about three quarters of an acre) that once yielded two tons.

“Given everything—no water, no fertilizer, no care—this small harvest is 
a blessing,” Abu Jleidan told Drop Site. “Many farmers have lost 
everything. Their trees dried or were bulldozed. I’m lucky to have even 
this.”

The cost of pressing oil has multiplied. Before the war, it cost less 
than half a shekel per kilo. Today, it costs three shekels (about $0.9), 
driven by soaring prices of diesel, spare parts, and labor.

“Fuel costs $25 a liter now; it used to be less than two,” said Zidan 
Fawaz Zidan, 54, who owns one of the few presses still running in 
central Gaza. “We used to process 150 tons of olives a day. Now it’s 
barely five tons every two days.”

More than 35 presses have been destroyed across Gaza over the past two 
years. Only five remain operational, all of them in the central region.

According to Fayyad Fayyad, the head of the Palestinian Olive Council, 
Gaza’s olive sector is “almost completely destroyed.”

“There is no olive season this year,” Fayyad told Drop Site. “We 
estimate that nearly one million of Gaza’s 1.1 million olive trees have 
been destroyed.” In 2022, Gaza produced about 50,000 tons of olives. 
This year, Fayyad said, the total will be well under a thousand. “The 
destruction is deliberate,” he said. “Israel aims to eliminate the 
agricultural sector, including olives. What remains are scattered 
trees—not groves, not production.”

Fayyad’s olive council is preparing a plan to rebuild the olive sector 
if the ceasefire holds and the war ends—beginning with soil testing to 
detect contamination from munitions and rebuilding irrigation networks. 
The government of Tunisia has pledged 180,000 olive saplings to Gaza 
once conditions allow.

But replanting will take years. “The olive tree is slow to grow,” Fayyad 
says. “It takes patience—and peace—for it to bear fruit again.”

Despite the devastation, Gaza’s farmers are returning to their olive 
groves—to water, to prune, to salvage whatever life remains.

“The olive tree is the story of Palestine,” Abdel-Nabi said. “Even when 
it burns, it still stands in our hearts.”

/This piece was published in collaboration with Egab 
<https://substack.com/redirect/0044afde-7162-46f7-a122-b2de052f9738?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>./

Like 
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=176657963&utm_source=substack&isFreemail=true&submitLike=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTc2NjU3OTYzLCJyZWFjdGlvbiI6IuKdpCIsImlhdCI6MTc2MDk4MjQ4OSwiZXhwIjoxNzYzNTc0NDg5LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjUxMDM0OCIsInN1YiI6InJlYWN0aW9uIn0._yVNsqVHaMQyekhb15eA-ekzv1dv9x2z7FQDwqoDmWc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-reaction&r=lvppb> 

Comment 
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=176657963&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&isFreemail=true&comments=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTc2NjU3OTYzLCJpYXQiOjE3NjA5ODI0ODksImV4cCI6MTc2MzU3NDQ4OSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTI1MTAzNDgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.hGblx6bZUKl9Qig_x5Ohv3s19veeNa6hX8KyYKpF6hs&r=lvppb&utm_campaign=email-half-magic-comments&action=post-comment&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email> 

Restack 
<https://substack.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.srPJwV3AgEwKQE5T3LgvWdG0bLQ5d_ret-_aEnF05fY?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email> 

© 2025 Drop Site News, Inc.
Drop Site News Inc., 1930 18th St NW
Ste B2 #1034, Washington, DC 20009

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20251020/7baff8c7/attachment-0001.htm>