Gaza’s environmental scars may never fully heal

As Israeli airstrikes continue to devastate Gaza, claiming countless lives in an unrelenting conflict, a quieter but equally devastating crisis is unfolding — the environmental destruction left in its wake. Conservative estimates based on satellite imagery comparing before-and-after conditions suggest that the conflict, which began on October 7 last year, has left much of the enclave uninhabitable, with its scars likely to endure for years long after the bombs have stopped falling.

Six months ago, a preliminary United Nations assessment raised the alarm over the environmental devastation caused by the ongoing war, a crisis largely overshadowed by the human toll. Since then, entire areas of the Gaza Strip have been flattened, including homes, schools, hospitals, greenhouses, and what little remained of its already uneven skyline.

A recent New York Times analysis lays bare the staggering toll of the conflict over the past 14 months. To put the scale of destruction into context, Israeli forces demolished at least 620 residential buildings and other structures in just three months—between September and November. Videos of the demolitions, some captured by soldiers from the military's 749th Combat Engineering Battalion, were later circulated on social media.

The impact of the bombing campaign extends far beyond physical destruction. In the first four months of the attacks, Israel dropped 70,000 tons of heavy munitions, including phosphorus bombs—devices banned under international law by the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), according to Gaza’s government.

A haunting photograph taken on October 9, 2023, and widely circulated in the media, shows M825 and M825A1 artillery shells marked with the label D528—a code used by the US Department of Defense to identify 'white phosphorus-based munitions.' The United Nations has long warned that incendiary weapons like white phosphorus inflict irreparable harm on human life and the environment. Once ignited, white phosphorus burns intensely, with flames that cannot be extinguished as long as oxygen is present. Experts note that it poisons everything it touches, lingering in water for years, killing aquatic life and contaminating water sources that spread toxins through the land, soil, and air. Wherever it was deployed in Gaza, it annihilated plant life and exacerbated the devastation of an already shattered strip of land.

In its June report, the UN’s environmental protection agency warned that Gaza’s ecosystems are teetering on the brink of irreversible damage. The collapse of water and sanitation systems, the destruction of vital infrastructure, and the devastation of coastal areas and natural habitats paint a grim picture of a region struggling not only to survive the violence but also to hold onto any semblance of hope for the future. Experts fear that these environmental losses will have a lasting impact on public health, food security, and Gaza’s ability to rebuild—threatening to trap its people in a cycle of suffering for generations to come.

“The devastation goes beyond what words can capture. In terms of non-carbon impacts, there's nowhere to even start. The entire water and sewer system across Gaza has been destroyed,” said Dr. Patrick Bigger, Research Director at the Climate & Community Institute.

This dire reality underpins Bigger’s research, which, along with the work of his colleagues, formed the backbone of the State of Palestine’s recent appeal before the International Court of Justice. Their plea, grounded in both hard data and profound human tragedy, underscores how the impacts of war and environmental collapse are inseparable, leaving Gaza’s people fighting not just for survival but for the right to rebuild a livable future. Commenting on life in the enclave, Bigger cautioned that it would be extremely difficult—not just socially, but environmentally—for years to come.

Adding to the growing alarm, the Norwegian Refugee Council has issued an urgent warning, revealing a new layer to Gaza’s suffering. Recent data from the Oslo-based humanitarian organization paints a harrowing picture -- aid entering the besieged enclave has drastically fallen, pushing the population closer to catastrophe. More than a million people are now at risk of starvation, while the entire population grapples with the dual scourges of hunger and disease. The council notes that a variety of illnesses are spreading unchecked, with a medical infrastructure that has effectively ceased to exist. In this vacuum, survival is becoming a near-impossible challenge for many.

For Bigger, the situation is unequivocal. “We should not shy away from using the word genocide,” he said. “Based on comments made by Israeli officials, this appears to be a clear and explicit program of ethnic cleansing and land grabbing.” The toll, he added, is staggering. “Human suffering is astonishing. That is absolutely the most important reason to demand an immediate ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel,” he continued, emphasizing the urgent need for international action.

The crisis, he warned, is rippling out far beyond bombed-out buildings and displaced families. For the first time in decades, polio is re-emerging in Palestine—one of many bleak consequences of what Bigger terms 'the genocide' and its long-lasting effects. His institute, which has led efforts to document the environmental fallout, underscores the pressing need for global intervention.

While Dr. Patrick Bigger refrained from using the term 'ecocide,' which has been applied to describe the environmental devastation in Gaza, he did not hesitate to highlight the insufficient attention given to the environmental toll of the conflict.

Debris and emissions

With much of the Gaza Strip now reduced to rubble by Israel’s relentless bombardment, estimating the full environmental toll of the debris scattered across the besieged region will likely take years — that is, if independent experts are granted unfettered access.

According to the United Nations, by May 2024, the amount of debris in the enclave had already surpassed 39 million tons. This staggering figure is 13 times greater than the total rubble produced by all conflicts in Gaza since 2008. For every square meter of the war-torn territory, there are now more than 107 kilograms of debris, which could contain unexploded ordnance (UXO), hazardous materials, and even human remains. Even by conservative estimates, the scale of destruction is overwhelming – the current volume of concrete debris is more than five times that generated during the 2017 ISIL conflict in Mosul, which totaled 7.65 million tons, according to a 2018 UNEP report.

To help conceptualize the scale, the UN noted that Gaza’s 39.2 million tons of debris would be equivalent to 10 Great Pyramids of Giza, or, just seven months ago, could have filled Central Park in New York to a height of 8 meters.

“These levels of destruction are unprecedented, making it difficult to draw direct comparisons with other conflicts, including in Ukraine,” said Bigger. One of the most overlooked tragedies, he noted, is the destruction of Gaza City’s infrastructure, including its rooftop solar systems, which boasted one of the highest concentrations in the world before October 2023.

“For all its governance flaws, both in the West Bank and Gaza, decarbonization efforts were being taken seriously. That progress, however, has now been obliterated, with critical energy infrastructure and farmland left in ruins,” said the California-based scholar. “War is catastrophic for the environment, no matter where it occurs,” he added. Asked about reconstruction, Bigger referred to the World Bank’s initial damage assessment, which concluded that rebuilding Gaza and Lebanon could take until 2040.

“The major carbon cost comes from the destruction of three- to eight-story concrete buildings by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, Lebanon, and across the region. Concrete, as you know, is incredibly emissions-intensive to produce,” he said.

“Rebuilding Gaza or Lebanon, even to their previously inadequate states, will incur enormous carbon costs, on par with a country like New Zealand,” he warned. “That’s just the initial assessment for Gaza. With the destruction in Lebanon, if we assume a similar number of structures have been lost, the emissions could match, or even surpass, those of Israel itself.”

According to a recent study, processing the massive building debris in Gaza alone could release up to 80,000 tonnes of CO2, while Israeli military activity between October and December has already generated over 600,000 tonnes of emissions. With reconstruction efforts set to raise this figure significantly, the enclave's environmental toll could mirror a country’s annual carbon output, all while the region struggles with the devastation of farmland, water systems, and infrastructure. The long-term climate costs of this conflict are poised to exacerbate Gaza’s already fragile position, as it faces the compounding effects of war and a climate crisis intensifying 20% faster than the global average.

Toll on agriculture

The ongoing war in Gaza has not only torn apart lives but has decimated the land that sustains them. A report released in June by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in collaboration with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reveals the devastating extent of agricultural destruction in the region.

Through detailed satellite images from Sentinel-2, taken in 2017 and again in 2024, analysts have tracked the damage inflicted by relentless bombings, airstrikes, and the sheer force of heavy military vehicles. The findings are alarming, though hardly unexpected – Gaza's agricultural heart has been ripped apart.

Covering about 150 square kilometers, agricultural land in Gaza represents 41% of the region. But by June this year, productivity had plummeted in nearly two-thirds of the fields—63%, to be exact—when compared to the average of the previous seven years.

The damage is widespread, with varying degrees of destruction across the Strip’s five main regions. According to recent estimates, in the north, nearly 75% of the agricultural land has been affected, with 23.5 square kilometers of the 31.3 square kilometers of farmland in ruins. Gaza City, once a hub of fertile fields, saw 69% of its 31.5 square kilometers of agricultural land—21.6 square kilometers—entirely wiped out. In Deir al-Balah, 56% of the region’s agricultural land has been devastated, while in Khan Younis, the toll rises to 58%, with 24.6 square kilometers of farmland destroyed. Even in the southern Rafah region, half of the land—9.9 square kilometers of the 19.1 square kilometers—has been lost.

The destruction, based on these findings, goes beyond the mere loss of land — it is the erasure of livelihoods, of sustenance, and of any hope for the future. Gaza’s agricultural crisis stands as a reminder of the conflict's lasting, irreversible damage.

“Quite a substantial proportion of that land has now been destroyed, making it much harder to achieve any level of food sovereignty once the genocide ends,” said Dr. Patrick Bigger. “The list goes on and on. It’s really astonishing,” he told The Express Tribune during a no-holds-barred Zoom interview.

Who is responsible?

Without a doubt, Israel is responsible for the destruction in Gaza and the environmental consequences of the conflict, which, like the dust, will take a long time to settle—if it ever does. However, Bigger believes that much of the devastation would not have occurred without the unconditional support from the United States. “A substantial proportion of the destruction in Gaza would not be possible without direct US support,” said the Climate & Community Institute’s research director, noting that the Biden administration had provided $23 billion in weapons over the past 14 months. “Britain, Germany, and others also bear responsibility for the environmental tragedy we’ve witnessed in Palestine, Lebanon, and across the wider region,” he added.

As the conflict continued, the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, wrapped up just a month ago. Bigger, from the progressive think tank Climate & Community Institute, criticized the event for offering only lip service to the climate impact of ongoing wars. “Ironically, the annual climate conclave was billed as the COP of peace, all the while Azerbaijan has been supplying significant amounts of oil to Israel,” he said, pointing to the disconnect between the summit’s rhetoric and the realities on the ground.

While many world leaders are eager to lead on climate issues, they have largely stayed silent on the environmental toll of conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Asked about this silence, Bigger voiced his disappointment: “I think it’s really indicative. There’s a clear double standard at play.”