GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Tank tracks still fresh on his field in southern Gaza鈥檚 coastal area of Al-Mawasi, Nedal Abu Jazar lamented the damage war has wrought on his trees and crops.
鈥淟ook at the destruction,鈥� the 39-year-old farmer told AFP, holding an uprooted tomato plant.
He pointed to his greenhouse鈥檚 metal frame and its white plastic sheeting strewn across the plot, inside an area designated a humanitarian zone by the Israeli army.
鈥淧eople were sitting peacefully on their farmland ... and suddenly tanks arrived and fired at us, and then there were (air) strikes.鈥�
Abu Jazar said the Israeli operation in late June destroyed about 40 dunams (10 acres) of land and killed five laborers.
His is not an isolated case. Across Gaza, 57 percent of agricultural land has been damaged since the war began, according to a joint assessment published in June by the UN鈥檚 agriculture and satellite imagery agencies, FAO and UNOSAT.
The damage threatens Gaza鈥檚 food sovereignty, Matieu Henry of the Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP, because 30 percent of the Palestinian territory鈥檚 food consumption comes from agricultural land.
鈥淚f almost 60 percent of the agricultural land has been damaged, this may have a significant impact in terms of food security and food supply.鈥�
The Gaza Strip exported $44.6 million worth of produce in 2022, mainly to the West Bank and Israel, with strawberries and tomatoes representing 60 percent of the total, according to FAO data.
That number fell to zero after the October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel鈥檚 retaliatory offensive has killed at least 38,098 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory鈥檚 health ministry.
The damage assessment on the agricultural land comes as the UN鈥檚 hunger monitoring system estimated in June that 96 percent of Gaza faces high levels of acute food insecurity.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it 鈥渄oes not intentionally harm agricultural land.鈥�
In a statement, it said Hamas 鈥渙ften operates from within orchards, fields and agricultural land.鈥�

The impact is worse in the Palestinian territory鈥檚 north, where 68 percent of agricultural land is damaged, although the southern area encompassing parts of Al-Mawasi has seen the most significant increase in recent months due to military operations.
UNOSAT鈥檚 Lars Bromley told AFP the damage is generally 鈥渄ue to the impact of activities such as heavy vehicle activity, bombing, shelling, and other conflict-related dynamics, which would be things like areas burning.鈥�
Near the southern city of Rafah, 34-year-old farmer Ibrahim Dheir feels helpless after the destruction of 20 dunams (five acres) of land he used to lease, and all his farming equipment with it.
鈥淎s soon as the Israeli bulldozers and tanks entered the area, they began bulldozing cultivated lands with various trees, including fruits, citrus, guava, as well as crops like spinach, molokhia (jute mallow), eggplant, squash, pumpkin and sunflower seedlings,鈥� he said, before listing more damage in a testimony of the area鈥檚 past agricultural abundance.
Dheir, whose family exported its produce to the West Bank and Israel, now feels destitute.
鈥淲e used to depend on agriculture for our livelihood day by day, but now there鈥檚 no work or income.鈥�

Farmer Abu Mahmoud Za鈥檃rab also finds himself with 鈥渘o source of income.鈥�
The 60-year-old owns 15 dunams (3.7 acres) of land on which crops and fruit trees used to grow.
鈥淭he Israeli army passed through the land, completely wiping out all trees and crops,鈥� he told AFP.
鈥淭hey bulldozed and shelled the land, turning it into barren pits.鈥�
The harm done to farmland in Gaza will last far beyond tank tracks and explosions, said Bromley of UNOSAT.
鈥淲ith modern weaponry, a certain percentage is always going to fail. Tank shells won鈥檛 explode, artillery shells won鈥檛 explode ... so clearing that unexploded ordnance is a massive task,鈥� he said.
It will require 鈥減robing every centimeter of the soil before you can allow the farmers back onto it.鈥�
Despite the risks, Dheir wants to return to farming.
鈥淲e want the war to stop and things to return to how they were so we can farm and cultivate our lands again.鈥�