Trending News:Palestine: Heritage, FolkloreGaza: Only 3% of Land Safe to Grow FoodGaza: Lolo Heriz Finally Buried After 975 Days57th Year of Al Aqsa Burning: ‘The Fire Continues’ Ekrima Sabri WarnsRemember Hind RajabA ‘Palestinian’ Palace in JerusalemIsrael Bombs Police Station, Kills Group of OfficersDon’t Forget Dier YassinIsraeli Army, Settlers Trap Three Palestinian Families in Their Homes for 11 DaysIsraeli Strikes Gaza Port Café, Leaves 6 Dead, a Child and 14 WoundedYour Ben Gurion! RevelationsGaza’s Face of DestructionSad Woman of PalestineItamar Ben Gvir: ‘We Should Kill 30 to 40 in Gaza Each Night’Gaza Health Ministry States 1266 Killed Since The Ceasefire‘We Think of Hanan Ashrawi Only as a Palestinian’Tied to a Chair in ChainsIn The Line of Fire: Gaza Families Fear The ‘Yellow Line’Kushner Tells Netanyahu Not to Move ‘Westwards’ in GazaA Middle East Whirlpool! View From AmmanPrisoner Mohammad Arab Hadn’t Seen His Face in 2 Years!UN: 3000 Settler Attacks on West Bank Palestinians Since 2025Four Days in Cairo: A Journey Into The Faces of EgyptClick in GazaHisham Sharabi: Embers and AshesIndependent: Israeli Settlers Set Fire to a Home With a Child InsideJerusalem Under The StarsJabal Al-Weibdeh: An AI Art StoryJaffa Oranges in Jerusalem, 1937Gaza Begins to Restore Its Mosques12 Bodies Uncovered in Gaza CityDr. Mark Perlmutter recounts amputating the leg of a five-year-old girl in Gaza with no anesthesia available beyond an anesthesiologist singing to her.Herman Melville, Palestine, 1857Sea of Tragedy and LifeUN: Humanitarian Access Blocked by 900 Israeli Checkpoints70,000 Perform The Friday Prayers in Al Aqsa90% of Gazans Displaced in Tattered Tents, Living on RubbleGlorious YemenSay Cheese!Israel Vessels Fire at Three Fishermen in GazaPalestine in the Olive HarvestSmiles and Embroidery‘No Need For Your Crocodile Tears’Reem Arkan’s ‘Red Homeland’Israeli Army Seizes 16 Homes in The West BankIsrael Arrest Palestinian Journalist and Drop Site Contributor Mohammed AwadPalestinian School Year Starts 6 SeptemberTel al-Zaater: 50 Years On! Memory of a MassacreTo Evelyn: The Baramki Home in JerusalemPalestinian House, Palestinian ArchitectureUN Reports Grave Israeli Violations of Gaza ReturneesThe Gaza InfernoEhud Olmert: Gaza Belongs to The Palestinians300 Israeli Soldiers Call For an End of ‘Settler Terrorism’Reshida Tlaib Sweeps in Polls‘We Are Still Here – Gaza’The Mecca Agreement: Is This The Beginning?Thinking of Hind TaherYafa Train Station 1910Palestine EmbroideredBalfour in The Unholy TrinityIsrael Breaks The Ceasefire 12 Times‘They Can’t Take The Sea From US’Gaza: 13 Bodies Recovered From The RubbleUS Soldier Commits Suicide After Serving in GazaWaiting For TomorrowStealing Moments of JoyOliver Stone: Israel’s Policy on Palestine Will be Judge by History as One of The Darkest…Gaza: No Trucks, No Aid, Israeli-styleIsraeli Holds 1700 Palestinian Remains For BargainingView of The Abu Taha Family in Yafa, 1940Mojtaba Khamenei in ‘Full Physical Health’Melissa Barrera: ‘I am Not Afraid of Losing My Career…’The Face of InnocenceFacing The Israeli Gun: 108 Cases Against Journalists in JulyIs There a New Regional Order Emerging?Dr Nada Abu Alrub: ‘…No Language of Surrender Here’The Women of JerusalemGaza Sea: A Time Bomb in WaitingGroup Photo of a Palestinian Family, 1922‘So We Don’t Forget’19 Bodies Uncovered in Gaza CityA Wedding in Ruin: Israel’s Answer to Happiness!New Pact, New Strength – Turkey, Saudi and PakistanLeaked Photos Shows 2 Elderly Men Before Israeli Soldiers Killed ThemGaza Buries Its Dead Albeit at a ‘Slower Pace’ With 73,384 Killed Since 7 OctoberReturning to Haifa – A NovelYemen’s Asma Ali Appointed First US Judge in MississippiIsrael Violates The Ceasefire Over 4000 TimesUNICEF: 300 Children Died in 300 Days in GazaDalal Abu Amneh: A Musician, A NeurologistIsrael Slams 100s of Fines on Moathneen in Arab CitiesWhen Will The Israeli Bombs Stop Falling?Israeli Troops Raid Qalandiya For 2nd DayStitch in Time – PalestineFadwa Tuqan: A Poet of PalestinePitching Together, PalestineTeachers, Pupils – Rashidya School, Jerusalem 1930Palestine Embroidery: A Work of Art‘There Could be a Million Dead Palestinian Children and I Would Still Sleep Well in The Evening’ – Ambassador Hotovely
Trending News:Palestine: Heritage, FolkloreGaza: Only 3% of Land Safe to Grow FoodGaza: Lolo Heriz Finally Buried After 975 Days57th Year of Al Aqsa Burning: ‘The Fire Continues’ Ekrima Sabri WarnsRemember Hind RajabA ‘Palestinian’ Palace in JerusalemIsrael Bombs Police Station, Kills Group of OfficersDon’t Forget Dier YassinIsraeli Army, Settlers Trap Three Palestinian Families in Their Homes for 11 DaysIsraeli Strikes Gaza Port Café, Leaves 6 Dead, a Child and 14 WoundedYour Ben Gurion! RevelationsGaza’s Face of DestructionSad Woman of PalestineItamar Ben Gvir: ‘We Should Kill 30 to 40 in Gaza Each Night’Gaza Health Ministry States 1266 Killed Since The Ceasefire‘We Think of Hanan Ashrawi Only as a Palestinian’Tied to a Chair in ChainsIn The Line of Fire: Gaza Families Fear The ‘Yellow Line’Kushner Tells Netanyahu Not to Move ‘Westwards’ in GazaA Middle East Whirlpool! View From AmmanPrisoner Mohammad Arab Hadn’t Seen His Face in 2 Years!UN: 3000 Settler Attacks on West Bank Palestinians Since 2025Four Days in Cairo: A Journey Into The Faces of EgyptClick in GazaHisham Sharabi: Embers and AshesIndependent: Israeli Settlers Set Fire to a Home With a Child InsideJerusalem Under The StarsJabal Al-Weibdeh: An AI Art StoryJaffa Oranges in Jerusalem, 1937Gaza Begins to Restore Its Mosques12 Bodies Uncovered in Gaza CityDr. Mark Perlmutter recounts amputating the leg of a five-year-old girl in Gaza with no anesthesia available beyond an anesthesiologist singing to her.Herman Melville, Palestine, 1857Sea of Tragedy and LifeUN: Humanitarian Access Blocked by 900 Israeli Checkpoints70,000 Perform The Friday Prayers in Al Aqsa90% of Gazans Displaced in Tattered Tents, Living on RubbleGlorious YemenSay Cheese!Israel Vessels Fire at Three Fishermen in GazaPalestine in the Olive HarvestSmiles and Embroidery‘No Need For Your Crocodile Tears’Reem Arkan’s ‘Red Homeland’Israeli Army Seizes 16 Homes in The West BankIsrael Arrest Palestinian Journalist and Drop Site Contributor Mohammed AwadPalestinian School Year Starts 6 SeptemberTel al-Zaater: 50 Years On! Memory of a MassacreTo Evelyn: The Baramki Home in JerusalemPalestinian House, Palestinian ArchitectureUN Reports Grave Israeli Violations of Gaza ReturneesThe Gaza InfernoEhud Olmert: Gaza Belongs to The Palestinians300 Israeli Soldiers Call For an End of ‘Settler Terrorism’Reshida Tlaib Sweeps in Polls‘We Are Still Here – Gaza’The Mecca Agreement: Is This The Beginning?Thinking of Hind TaherYafa Train Station 1910Palestine EmbroideredBalfour in The Unholy TrinityIsrael Breaks The Ceasefire 12 Times‘They Can’t Take The Sea From US’Gaza: 13 Bodies Recovered From The RubbleUS Soldier Commits Suicide After Serving in GazaWaiting For TomorrowStealing Moments of JoyOliver Stone: Israel’s Policy on Palestine Will be Judge by History as One of The Darkest…Gaza: No Trucks, No Aid, Israeli-styleIsraeli Holds 1700 Palestinian Remains For BargainingView of The Abu Taha Family in Yafa, 1940Mojtaba Khamenei in ‘Full Physical Health’Melissa Barrera: ‘I am Not Afraid of Losing My Career…’The Face of InnocenceFacing The Israeli Gun: 108 Cases Against Journalists in JulyIs There a New Regional Order Emerging?Dr Nada Abu Alrub: ‘…No Language of Surrender Here’The Women of JerusalemGaza Sea: A Time Bomb in WaitingGroup Photo of a Palestinian Family, 1922‘So We Don’t Forget’19 Bodies Uncovered in Gaza CityA Wedding in Ruin: Israel’s Answer to Happiness!New Pact, New Strength – Turkey, Saudi and PakistanLeaked Photos Shows 2 Elderly Men Before Israeli Soldiers Killed ThemGaza Buries Its Dead Albeit at a ‘Slower Pace’ With 73,384 Killed Since 7 OctoberReturning to Haifa – A NovelYemen’s Asma Ali Appointed First US Judge in MississippiIsrael Violates The Ceasefire Over 4000 TimesUNICEF: 300 Children Died in 300 Days in GazaDalal Abu Amneh: A Musician, A NeurologistIsrael Slams 100s of Fines on Moathneen in Arab CitiesWhen Will The Israeli Bombs Stop Falling?Israeli Troops Raid Qalandiya For 2nd DayStitch in Time – PalestineFadwa Tuqan: A Poet of PalestinePitching Together, PalestineTeachers, Pupils – Rashidya School, Jerusalem 1930Palestine Embroidery: A Work of Art‘There Could be a Million Dead Palestinian Children and I Would Still Sleep Well in The Evening’ – Ambassador Hotovely
CROSSFIREARABIA – About 70,000 Palestinians performed the Friday prayers in Al Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards despite the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation forces. Hundreds of Palestinians from the old city, Jerusalem, West Bank and the 1948 territories flocked to the holy mosque compound to perform the traditional weekly prayer on Friday noon. Israeli soldiers checked all the IDs of all those who attended the prayers and tens of youths were turned away and refused entry into the compound.
Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.
Amid ongoing deadly hostilities in Gaza, the enclave’s farmers face the increasingly difficult challenge of finding safe land to grow their crops.
Satellite images published last Tuesday in news analysis from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNOSAT, the UN Satellite Centre, indicate that just three per cent (448 hectares) of the shattered enclave’s farmland remains usable.
In October 2025, only 601 hectares were accessible and undamaged.
“This latest assessment paints a stark picture of the continued deterioration of Gaza’s agriculture sector,” said Rein Paulsen, Director of FAO’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience. “Without urgent action to restore safe access and provide farmers with the support they need, opportunities to restore local food production will continue to diminish.”
Bombed out
For cucumber and tomato grower Taysir Dahdouh, the war between Hamas fighters and Israel sparked by Hamas’s deadly attacks in October 2023 has been marked by overwhelming loss.
“I had a good income before the war,” he said. “Suddenly, we were left with nothing…Even the steel frames of the greenhouses disappeared, along with our homes, belongings, and irrigation pipes. Nothing was left.”
After returning from displacement, Mr. Dahdouh tried to restore the land using basic tools, working with his family. “We managed to rehabilitate about one dunum (about one-tenth of a hectare) of our land to bring it back to life,” he explained.
Another Gaza farmer, Wajiha Dahdouh, highlighted other equally serious problems: “We came back to support ourselves and return to farming so we could survive. Unfortunately, there is not enough water, there are no fertilizers, no seeds, and none of the basic necessities that would allow people to continue their lives.”
Squeezed out
The reduced growing space for Gaza’s farmers today is mainly the result of a lack of access, rather than additional damage from the war, which was already massive.
In June 2026, just over 4,000 hectares of cropland in Gaza – or 27 per cent – could be reached, but approximately 3,600 hectares of this was unfit for planting.
Farmers in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis have seen the largest reductions in available land, FAO said.
This is primarily because of the “westward expansion” of the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ that separates the ceasefire zone from the Israel Defense Forces’ military-controlled area.
Rafah in the far south of Gaza has the highest levels of inaccessible cropland and greenhouse growing areas, at 97.2 per cent and 98.4 per cent respectively.
“The most extensive physical damage remains concentrated in North Gaza and Gaza governorates,” the agency noted. Most damage is in North Gaza and Gaza, satellite images show.
Lucica Matei UN News infographic
The situation for Gazans remains dire. Just this weekend, UN partners reported multiple air strikes and incidents of shelling, gunfire and naval fire, primarily west of the Yellow Line, where most of Gaza’s 2.1 million people are now confined to an area less than half the size of the enclave. UN News
After she was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the body of Palestinian bride Lolo Heriz was recovered from beneath the rubble of her family home in Gaza. Lolo was killed on 18 December, 2023, alongside members of her family.
CrossFireArabia
