Israeli Bombing of Gaza Ranks Among “Most Devastating” in History
By the ISNA Green Initiative Team
Sep/Oct 2024
The barbaric and genocidal onslaught in Gaza, among the worst cases of slaughter and destruction in history, has been extensively covered in the media and Islamic Horizons. It now sits in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns, as evidenced by a group of satellite images taken from the U.S. space technology firm Maxar Technologies (Julia Frankel, Jan. 11, https://apnews.com/).
Environmental and Ecological Impact
The coastal territory’s orchards, strawberry fields, and sandy beaches that were once the Gazans’ pride are now a dehumanizing landscape of military bases, craters, and ruins. Two-thirds of the land in northern Gaza was agricultural, but not much of it is left. Israeli bulldozers have razed fields, destroyed centuries-old olive trees, and orchards to clear a buffer zone more than one-kilometer-wide (0.6-mile) inside Gaza along the northern border between Israel and Gaza.
The army has built dikes and earthen mounds to protect its tanks and clear the view. In addition, 2,000 agricultural buildings have been razed — including 90% of all the northern districts’ greenhouses.
According to a June 18 United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) report, the Gazan slaughter’s environmental impact has created unprecedented soil, water, and air pollution problems that have destroyed sanitation systems. Explosive weapons have generated some 39 million tons of debris. Each square meter of Gaza is now littered with more than 236 pounds of debris. The report also found that water, sanitation, and hygiene systems are now almost entirely defunct, because Gaza’s five wastewater treatment plants are no longer operational.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that 67% of Gaza’s water and sanitation system, poor at the best of times, has now been destroyed (Jon Donnison, June 21, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd119dz515wo).
A study titled, “A Multitemporal Snapshot of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Israel-Gaza Conflict,” conducted by an international team of researchers and published on June 6, details the significant environmental impact of the ongoing genocide. Co-authored by Benjamin Neimark (senior lecturer, Queen Mary University, London) and Patrick Bigger (research director, the Climate and Community Project), it provides a comprehensive estimate of the ensuing enormous greenhouse gas emissions. This report says the additional emissions associated with rebuilding Gaza are projected to be higher than many countries’ annual emissions (www.researchgate.net/).
Environmental and ecological impact is among the immense problems that Palestine will have to deal with in the coming decades. The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of Israel’s genocidal campaign was greater than the annual carbon footprint of over 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. In addition to its water supplies and food security already being threatened by sea level rise, drought, and extreme heat, Israel’s indiscriminate bombing has rendered Gaza’s environmental situation catastrophic.
During this and previous military campaigns, Israel has prioritized weaponizing water, gas, electricity, and other resources. It has also targeted the environment by destroying essential infrastructure. For instance, during the genocide’s first days, Israel limited Gaza’s water, electricity, and fuel supplies. As electricity and fuel are essential for water pumps and desalination, raw sewage continues to flow into the Mediterranean Sea (Zeinab Shuker, Dec. 19, 2023, www.tcf.org).
Besides the severely damaged public water supply systems, wastewater treatment facilities, and drainage networks, the toxic oil and other chemicals leaking from demolished plants into surface and groundwater has brought risks of soil erosion and triggering long-term health disasters, including sanitation crises and the spread of waterborne diseases.
The rockets and missiles not only cause immediate humanitarian crises, but also have long-lasting hazardous impacts worldwide. Specifically, toxic residues, including those from metals, plastic, and electronic waste, heavily contaminate the soil with widespread pollution. As a result, local agricultural areas will suffer from desertification, soil erosion, and land degradation.
Since 1967, Israel’s military actions have induced the uprooting of over 2.5 million trees — more than one million of which were olive trees — an essential source of income in the region. This ongoing destruction of native trees and crops has worsened the habitat fragmentation of local species and accelerated biodiversity loss and desertification.
Heavy bombardment has not only decreased the amount of human habitat, but has also increased air pollution, as toxic and hazardous compounds are released into the environment from burning buildings and industrial facilities. Green spaces and agricultural land have also been heavily damaged. The generational and other profound health effects in children are unknown. The same goes for how exposure to toxic chemicals affects pregnant women.
Ana Rule, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told Grist.com, “These microparticles can be kicked up by footfall or vehicles or lofted to other places on the wind” (https://www.scientificamerican.com, Jan. 29). Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to climate solutions and a just future.
Inhaling silica, a key ingredient in cement and glass, also increases the risk of cancer. The long-term projections of cancer and pulmonary diseases will not be known for some time. These typically have lag times. For cancer, it’s 20 to 40 years, a period that could be accelerated by repeat exposures. Intensive bombing, demolition, and damage to multistory buildings has spread huge amounts of cement particles and other particulates over both Israel and Egypt. These will be inhaled by people and deposited on farmland, with as-yet long term and unknown dire consequences.
The Future
Air and water pollution, as well as soil contamination, have no geopolitical boundaries and thus also affect global natural resources and ecosystems for generations. Therefore, recognizing the urgency of environmental preservation and ecological responsibility even amid warfare is crucial.
Forty public health scientists have called for an immediate cessation to the violence. The authors have drawn attention to the urgent need to rebuild Gaza’s health care system and restore the physical and human infrastructures that make a livable environment possible and promote human health and well-being (Environmental Health, June 28).
In addition, these individuals say that environmental remediation should form one of the most important parts of international effort to assist reconstruction, through which it is hoped lasting peace could be achieved. Health and sustainable development are among the accepted international human rights obligations.
They have also urged that the global community support Gaza and the Palestinians in its post-war recovery and reconstruction, including the rebuilding of the health system, the remediation of environmental pollution arising from Israel’s extensive use of weaponry, and the implementation of population-wide mental health programs to address the current, future, and intergenerational effects of trauma.
Sadly, the quieting of the bombs and guns will merely mark the end of one chapter of Gaza’s suffering. Once this genocide ends, the UN and the international community must find a way to launch and scale up reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts. Such a collective commitment to post-war environmental restoration will contribute to a sustainable and resilient future by rebuilding the linkage of global well-being and environmental governance.
In Palestine, there will be a special need for investment in water storage facilities, both for domestic consumption and agricultural use. Ecosystems will require additional protection, because saltwater will likely push into coastal aquifers. Endemic species are now under threat (Israel and Palestine are part of the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot, https://tcf.org/). The Mediterranean Basin hotspot is home to about 515 million inhabitants, 33% of whom live on the coasts. But Gaza’s in a weaker position than ever before for providing any of these protections. Any lasting peace in Gaza must go beyond a ceasefire and political solution, difficult as the latter may be to attain. Peace will also require environmental justice.
Given that climate change doesn’t recognize borders and political arrangements, Israel will also experience environmental degradation. For instance, Ashkelon (originally al-Majḍal), a mere eight miles from Tel Aviv (originally Yafa), one of Israel’s desalination plants has been shut down several times during the past few years due to pollution from Gaza. As the genocide will increase the amount of pollution in Gaza, Israel’s water security will also be jeopardized. Without enabling the Palestinians to protect their own environment, Israel cannot protect itself from a cross-border environmental disaster.
The current movement among universities to divest from those companies that produce these armaments and supplies to Israel is encouraging. We, as supporters of peace and justice for the Palestinians and other oppressed people, should raise our voices against production and profiting from such destructive armaments. A sovereign Palestinian state must be established as soon as possible so that its people can live with dignity, honor, and peace. But this can only be achieved if the U.S. becomes an honest broker. For a lasting peace to hold, environmental justice must be part of any solution.
ISNA Green Initiative Team members include Saffet Catovic, Nana Firman, Uzma Mirza, and Saiyid Masroor Shah (chair)
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