{"id":310076,"date":"2025-08-09T16:19:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T20:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=310076"},"modified":"2025-08-12T16:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T20:20:23","slug":"fao-press-release-09aug25","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/fao-press-release-09aug25\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza Strip: 98.5 percent of cropland unavailable for cultivation as famine looms – FAO"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

09 August 2025<\/p>\n

Food production cannot be reactivated without a significant shift in accessibility, safety, investments and support for local communities and livelihoods<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As famine looms in the Gaza Strip, a new assessment<\/a><\/em> conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) through satellite imagery reveals a staggering reality: 98.5 percent of cropland in the Gaza Strip is either damaged, inaccessible, or both.<\/p>\n

This means that only 1.5 percent of cropland in Gaza \u2013 232 hectares \u2013 is currently available for cultivation, down from 4.6 percent (688 hectares) as of April 2025, in a territory with over 2 million people.<\/p>\n

Satellite imagery also indicates that 12.4 percent of cropland, although undamaged, is not accessible due to designated “no go” zones.<\/p>\n

The combination of this extremely limited cropland availability, the impact of a relentless conflict, severe restrictions on the delivery and distribution of humanitarian assistance, and\u00a0widespread destruction of critical infrastructure \u2013 including irrigation systems, roads, equipment, storage facilities, and markets<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 has led to catastrophic food security conditions across Gaza.<\/p>\n

Addressing this crisis requires urgent safe and sustained humanitarian access, as well as immediate investments and support to restore local food production and basic livelihoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo prevent further suffering, we need to prioritize urgent humanitarian access and invest in restoring Gaza\u2019s local agrifood production systems, markets, and infrastructure. This includes both regaining safe access to farmland and rehabilitating land and assets damaged by the conflict,\u201d said Rein Paulsen, Director of FAO’s Emergencies and Resilience.<\/p>\n

Catastrophic food crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

FAO and UNOSAT\u2019s cropland assessment follows the\u00a0Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert<\/a><\/em>\u00a0issued on July 29, which indicated that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently unfolding in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

The latest data reveals that over one in three people (39 percent) are going days without food. More than 500,000 people \u2013 nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population \u2013 are experiencing famine-like conditions, while the rest face emergency levels of hunger.<\/p>\n

In response to the IPC alert,\u00a0FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF<\/a><\/em>\u00a0have urgently called for:<\/p>\n