Gaza olive harvest collapses as war cuts access to farmland

Yield collapse

Gaza's olive harvest has collapsed this season as production plummets across the besieged enclave — with farmers reporting devastating yield losses and large tracts of agricultural land remaining inaccessible behind Israeli military lines. Kamel Baraka, a farmer from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, said olive tree yields had fallen sharply. "A tree that produced around 100 kilograms (220.4 pounds) of olives before the war now produces no more than 20 (44 pounds) to 30 kilograms (66 pounds)," Baraka told Anadolu, noting that the decline represents a drop of around 70% to 80%.

Access denied

Large areas of olive groves in eastern parts of central Gaza lie in zones farmers cannot reach, particularly east of Salah al-Din Street and around the notional "yellow line" that separates areas under Israeli army control from zones where Palestinians are permitted to move. The "yellow line" marks the boundary to which Israeli forces withdrew under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, leaving eastern Gaza under military occupation while allowing limited access west of the divide. "Farmers in Deir al-Balah, Bureij and Maghazi face difficulty reaching agricultural land that had been a major source of olive production," Baraka said, adding that available farmland west of Salah al-Din Street is insufficient to meet residents' needs.

Mounting costs

Farmers are struggling with sharply higher transportation and pressing costs, as well as acute shortages of containers, fertilizer and irrigation equipment needed to sustain the harvest. "The cost of pressing olives has risen to around three times what it was before the war," Baraka said, explaining that the increase has placed further pressure on farmers whose incomes have already fallen because of lower production. "Before the war, olive press owners often transported harvests from farms to pressing facilities, while farmers now struggle to find transportation even for small quantities," he added.

Widespread destruction

The Gaza Agriculture Ministry estimated on July 13 that losses to the agricultural sector from Israel's war, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, exceed $3 billion, including $1.49 billion in direct damage and $1.59 billion in indirect losses. The ministry reported that 158,909 dunams (39,267 acres) of agricultural land have been damaged out of a total 182,247 dunams (45,033 acres), or around 87%, sharply reducing crop production and the capacity to provide food. The war has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and injured over 175,000 others, according to Palestinian figures, while destroying about 90% of the enclave's infrastructure.