Muhammad Abu Samra is one of many people in his family who makes their living from farming.
Not any more. The farmland Abu Samra owns and cultivates on the eastern edge of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip was bombed repeatedly over the past year and is now unusable for cultivation, he told The Electronic Intifada.
It’s deliberate, he said.
“The occupation wants to destroy houses, farms, streets and all elements of life in Gaza, not only to make us poor but also to make us dependent on aid and to leave us, in the post-aggression phase, as beggars.”
The pattern of damage in Gaza would seem to bear him out. According to satellite data analyzed by Al Jazeera, some 60 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land had been damaged or destroyed in the eight months from October 2023 to end of June. ….more
