Since the beginning of the Israel and Hamas war on October 7, 2023, Israel have dropped more than 85,000 tonnes of bombs on the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority.
This came in a report on the occasion of the “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict”, which falls on November 6 of each year.
In a statement, the authority said that the amount of bombs dropped on Gaza surpasses that of World War II.
“Israel’s continuous bombing has led to the destruction of vast areas of agricultural land and the contamination of the soil with toxic chemicals that will hinder agriculture for decades.”
It pointed out that the Israeli forces have used weapons and munitions, including white phosphorus, which is prohibited by the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
The authority indicated that damage to water infrastructure has led to polluted water leaking into groundwater reservoirs, posing a health and environmental catastrophe that could threaten residents for generations to come.
The report also revealed that occupied West Bank settlements annually pump 40 million cubic meters of untreated wastewater into Palestinian territories, while vast land is seized, bulldozed, and trees uprooted.
The authority has urged the United Nations (UN) and international community to swiftly address ongoing environmental aggression, prevent military-grade environmental exploitation, and enforce international laws.
