Palestinians in the Gaza Strip say that their crops are failing because of herbicides sprayed by Israel along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, says Aljazeera. It quoted an Israeli Army spokesman who confirmed spraying in the area, citing security reasons.
“Chemicals have already spilled over to adjacent land and have created serious damage to farmers beyond the buffer zone. We don’t know how it will impact the water resources, which are very scarce in Gaza,” said Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a spokesperson for Al Mezan, which is advocating for Gaza farmers.
Several groups sent a letter to Israeli officials, calling for an investigation. The groups say they will wait for a response before they file an official lawsuit. “In response to a series of questions submitted by the Gisha rights group earlier this year, however, an army spokesperson confirmed that it sprayed ‘herbicides and germination inhibitors’ in order to ‘enable optimal and continuous security operations’ in the area, and that the practice had been ongoing for more than two years,” reports Al Jazeera.