Gaza honey industry faces collapse under Israeli genocide

Gaza's beekeeping sector has suffered $39 million in losses since October 2023, with nearly 30,000 hives destroyed and more than 6,000 workers left jobless as Israel's war devastates vegetation and blocks access to key grazing areas, according to the Cooperative Society of Beekeepers.

Devastation of Gaza's apiaries

The Cooperative Society of Beekeepers in Gaza reported that Israeli military operations have obliterated nearly 30,000 beehives that previously supplied the local market with 380 to 400 tons of honey annually. Beyond the immediate destruction of hives, the conflict has ravaged more than 85 percent of vegetation and forest grazing areas essential for bee colonies, leaving over 6,000 laborers without employment and devastating the incomes of 905 registered beekeepers across the territory.

Beekeepers trapped by 'Yellow Line'

In the central Gaza town of Al-Zawaida, apiarist Amin Eid tends to the few remaining hives he and his son have managed to preserve amid the ruins of their inherited trade. "Gaza had 905 beekeepers before the war and used to export locally produced honey, but the war radically changed the reality of the profession," Eid told Anadolu, explaining that the Israeli army's imposition of the so-called "Yellow Line" established under a US ceasefire plan in October 2025 has severed access to eastern grazing zones beyond Salah al-Din Street. "The Israeli army's advance and the imposition of the so-called 'Yellow Line' prevented beekeepers from reaching areas east of Salah al-Din Street, which had been among the main grazing zones for bees," he said, noting that insecurity and movement restrictions prevent any attempt to relocate hives to these areas without risking owners' lives.

Plea for international support

The economic calculus of the trade has shifted dramatically under blockade conditions, with Eid stating that a box of wax sheets has skyrocketed from roughly 30 shekels ($9.83) before the war to between 1,200 and 1,500 shekels ($393-$491) currently. "The beekeeper who used to own 300, 400 or even 500 hives now has only 10 or 20 and is trying to start again with the fewest resources and highest costs," he added, highlighting the severe shortage of wood and boxes needed for reconstruction — materials that some desperate residents burned for heat during fuel shortages and famine conditions. Eid urged international organizations and agricultural associations to furnish beekeeping supplies including wax, frames, boxes and sugar, alongside guarantees of safe passage to natural grazing territories. "Gaza has the capacity to produce high-quality natural honey, but Israeli restrictions prevent it from using these resources," he said, recalling that local producers "used to call honey yellow gold." Despite the devastation, Gaza's beekeepers have begun relocating surviving colonies to coastal areas and residential neighborhoods, relying on sparse wild vegetation to sustain their hives as the sector remains a critical pillar of food security and household income for hundreds of Palestinian families navigating the enclave's ongoing humanitarian crisis.