Israeli authorities have confirmed that they resumed spraying herbicides along the fence separating besieged Gaza Strip from Israel, after having supposedly “refrained from aerial spraying throughout 2019,” reported Haaretz.
Last week, “the army sprayed the border area for three days”, the paper said.
Israeli planes regularly spray herbicides on #Gaza farmland, causing heavy losses to farmers, deepening food security, and, possibly, causing dangerous diseases to Palestinians.#GreatReturnMarch pic.twitter.com/W3CmhVtsWj
— Days of Palestine (@DaysofPalestine) June 11, 2018
Israeli defense ministry told the Israeli newspaper that the “aerial spraying is done from time to time based on security needs, but solely within Israel’s territory”.
The Palestinian Agriculture Ministry said that herbicides damaged 14,000 dunams of agricultural land in Gaza from 2014 through 2018.
via @PerilofAfrica Israel's 'environmental crisis' is of its own making: Israel's destruction of the environment on Palestinian land is now threatening Israeli lives. https://t.co/oRV6KUgo5e pic.twitter.com/7TaBG8kopx
— MarthaLeah Nangalama (@mlnangalama) July 7, 2019
“The Israeli army regularly sprays herbicide on Palestinian arable land close to the fence separating the besieged territory from Israel,” wrote Palestinian journalist Ramzy Baroud and Italian writer Romana Rubeo.
“The chemical it uses most often is glyphosate, which has been proven to cause cancer. According to the Red Cross, these activities not only damage Palestinian crops but also contaminate the soil and water,” Baroud and Rubeo added.
(Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)
