Less Than 5% of Gaza’s Cropland Is Useable, UN Assessment Shows 

A view of destroyed buildings in Gaza, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, May 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of destroyed buildings in Gaza, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, May 26, 2025. (Reuters)
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Less Than 5% of Gaza’s Cropland Is Useable, UN Assessment Shows 

A view of destroyed buildings in Gaza, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, May 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of destroyed buildings in Gaza, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, May 26, 2025. (Reuters)

Less than 5% of Gaza's cropland can be cultivated due to damage and access restrictions, "exacerbating the risk of famine in the area", according to a UN assessment published on Monday.

"This level of destruction is not just a loss of infrastructure – it is a collapse of Gaza's agrifood system and of lifelines," said Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization which produced the assessment alongside the UN Satellite Center.

Before the Israel-Hamas war began over 19 months ago, Gazan farmers cultivated a range of crops including citrus fruits, dates and olives, despite the area being among the most densely populated in the world.

Now, half a million people face starvation, according to a global hunger monitor, amid Israeli restrictions on food imports after an 11-week blockade.

In total, just 688 hectares, or 4.6% of the total, is available for cultivation, the UN assessment said.

It showed that more than 80% of Gaza's cropland had been damaged in the war. A total of 77.8% is not accessible, the statement said, based on a UN assessment of Israeli restricted sites and evacuation orders.

The report found that nearly three-quarters of greenhouses had been damaged in the war and over 80% of wells, according to the assessment based on high-resolution satellite imagery.

It described the situation as "particularly critical" in the southern area of Rafah and in the northern areas where nearly all cropland is inaccessible, the statement said.



UN Says 875 Palestinians Have Been Killed Near Gaza Aid Sites

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Says 875 Palestinians Have Been Killed Near Gaza Aid Sites

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)

The UN rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led fighters loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations," Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

The United Nations has called the GHF aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

The GHF said on Tuesday it had delivered more than 75 million meals to Gaza Palestinians since the end of May, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs.

The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israeli army by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Program said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities".