The Ministry of Agriculture in the Gaza Strip announced today, Monday, that the agricultural lands affected by the occupation sprayed toxic pesticides east of the Gaza Strip from its north to its south are "disaster areas".
Adham Al-Basyouni, a ministry spokesman, held a press conference before the FAO, with the participation of the affected farmers, the occupation, the consequences of this crime and compensating the farmers for their losses as soon as possible.
According to the ministry’s estimates, the value of material damage to agricultural crops as a result of exposure to toxic pesticides exceeds (one million and a quarter of a million dollars), as the total area of ​​agricultural land whose crops were damaged is more than (2000 dunums).
Al-Bassiouni pointed out that these estimates are preliminary and that the Ministry´s staff continues to count and count all damages and losses.
The first spray operation began this year on the fourteenth of last month, and included all the eastern regions from the north of the sector to the south, where this crime is repeated almost daily, and until yesterday. like he said.
He pointed out that the occupation continues its crime against farmers from 2000 to date.
According to the testimonies of farmers and citizens in the eastern areas of the Strip, the occupation forces stationed inside the border strip ignite rubber tires to determine the direction of the wind if it is only western, and accordingly give instructions to the planes to spray, and therefore the damage is concentrated only on the Palestinian farmers ’lands and spares their farms this great damage .
Al-Bassiouni explained that the damages incurred by the farmers were concentrated in most of the winter crops such as wheat, barley, beans, peas, cabbage, onions and zucchini, in addition to leafy crops such as spinach and parsley.
He pointed out that the Gaza Ministry of Agriculture instructed farmers and merchants not to harvest and sell infected crops and not trade them in the markets, noting that there was a rapid response from farmers, some of whom destroyed the crops themselves.
The ministry’s spokesperson condemned the ongoing crime committed by the occupation against the agricultural sector and Palestinian farmers, calling on international organizations, United Nations organizations, human rights organizations and Arab institutions in addition to civil society and media institutions, to conduct field tours on agricultural lands, to find out the extent of the agricultural damage caused by the occupation For farmers and losses sustained by them and closely documented with sound and image.
He stressed the role of those institutions in exposing the crime of occupation and making sure of his lies, that his operations in spraying agricultural pesticides did not harm citizens, crops and the environment and did not affect the fertility of the soil, calling on those institutions to assume their responsibilities in working to hold the occupation accountable for this heinous crime against the agricultural sector and the environment Agricultural, and pressure to compel the occupation to compensate farmers for the large losses they incurred, in their only source of livelihood.
