Published on 12/6/2026
Thousands of displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip camps are resorting to exploiting the small dirt areas available around their tents and turning them into miniature agricultural fields, in an urgent attempt to secure the minimum amount of food for their children, and to confront the exorbitant high prices of basic goods.
These individual initiatives come at a time when the Israeli occupation is implementing a strict siege that prevents the flow of food supplies and agricultural production requirements into the Gaza Strip.
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In a field report prepared by Ashraf Abu Amra for Al Jazeera, the experience of the Palestinian Abu Khader and his wife in a camp for the displaced in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip is highlighted. The family used a small plot of land adjacent to the tent to grow basic vegetable seedlings such as tomatoes and eggplant.
Speaking about his reliance on this narrow space to alleviate the burdens of displacement, Abu Khader says: “In light of this displacement, we were forced to rent a small plot of land next to our tent to plant in it and depend on it. If we get three tomatoes every day, they make a salad dish for the family, and the eggplant that you see, we take one or two to break our fast with.”
For her part, Abu Khader’s wife refers to her daily routine of caring for the land, saying: “We go out of the tent to water the land, my husband and I, and we pick fruits to feed the children and provide them with breakfast, and you see how expensive the world is and the situation is difficult, and God knows the situation.”
Field challenges and fear of evacuation
This experience is repeated in a number of displacement camps in the Gaza Strip, where empty spaces that were located near what is known as the “yellow line” have been transformed into small green lands that help support families’ livelihoods.
However, these initiatives face difficult challenges that include a severe shortage of irrigation water, the absence of fertilizers, and a scarcity of seeds, which has led some to rely on municipal seeds to grow chard, spinach, and arugula, as well as ongoing security concerns; One of the displaced farmers at the site says: “We live in constant fear and terror, and we work hour by hour because we may be displaced at any moment if the occupation approaches the yellow line, and then there will be no possibility of staying here.”
Systematic destruction and confiscation of lands
On the official level, the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza confirmed that these primitive initiatives reflect the depth of the crisis caused by the direct targeting of the food system.
In statements to Al Jazeera, the Director of Planning and Projects at the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza, Bahaa Al-Agha, explained the dimensions of the disaster, noting that the agricultural sector was subjected to almost complete destruction, and that the occupation currently controls more than 63% of the agricultural land area in the Strip, and imposes a strict siege that prevents the entry of production inputs.
The displaced people’s initiatives to cultivate the areas adjacent to their tents in the center of the Gaza Strip are part of a broader battle waged by the Palestinians in Gaza to revive the land and confront Israeli policies of subjugation.
The efforts of the displaced people of Deir al-Balah intersect with what the farmers of the coastal neighborhood of Sheikh Ajlin are doing in Gaza CityThey have launched broad initiatives to reclaim their lands that were repeatedly razed by occupation mechanisms, as the people return immediately after the tanks withdraw to clean the soil and restore irrigation networks with primitive tools to replant grape vines and figs, confirming their adherence to the identity of the region.
These crises fall under a systematic Israeli plan to impose food dependency and economic dependency, as data reveal that the occupation has destroyed and uprooted about 4 million fruit trees since the start of the war, which led to the eradication of entire fields of olives and citrus, and the transformation of Gaza from a sector that was self-sufficient in vegetables to an area suffering from real famine.
Data from the government media office in Gaza indicate that the occupation destroyed more than 94% of the agricultural land with an area of about 178 thousand dunams, which led to the collapse of agricultural production from 405 thousand tons annually to only about 28 thousand tons.
Reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also confirm that the areas available for agriculture decreased to less than 5% after the war, while most agricultural lands became destroyed or inaccessible, according to what the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced in October 2025.
