As diplomats negotiate ceasefires, donor conferences pledge billions for reconstruction and security strategists sketch out stabilisation plans, there is a danger that one of the most consequential dimensions of Gaza’s catastrophe will be overlooked. Conversations about money, governance and geopolitics may dominate headlines and policy briefs, but without confronting the environmental wreckage that underlies the territory’s shattered infrastructure under the occupation and wars, any reconstruction will be superficial and ultimately unsustainable.

Gaza’s environmental crisis is not a peripheral issue but a foundational one that affects water, soil, air, health, livelihoods, agriculture and, ultimately, the ability of communities to rebuild their lives with dignity and resilience. The scale of the environmental challenge in the Gaza Strip is immense and intertwined with the human suffering that has made daily survival extraordinarily difficult and costly. Much of Gaza has been physically destroyed, with estimates indicating tens of millions of tonnes of rubble littering cities and towns, creating an unprecedented obstacle to recovery that could take years to clear even under favourable conditions and generate significant emissions simply from debris processing and transport.

Environmental degradation in Gaza extends far beyond debris. Water and sanitation systems have been crippled by repeated attacks and prolonged electricity shortages, forcing residents to rely on limited and often unsafe sources of drinking water while untreated sewage contaminates neighbourhoods, agricultural land and coastal waters. Even before the most recent escalations, Gaza’s water infrastructure was under severe strain. Now, with damaged pipelines, destroyed pumping stations and inoperative treatment facilities, the risk of waterborne disease and long-term contamination has intensified. Agricultural land and orchards that once supported local food production have been flattened, compacted by heavy machinery or contaminated by explosive residues and waste. Air quality has deteriorated due to dust from destruction, burning debris and reliance on diesel generators and low-grade fuels for cooking and electricity. The environmental crisis is therefore multidimensional, affecting every basic system that sustains life.

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