Gaza Strip: After repeated displacements, Gazan farmers are finding ways back to the land

13/10/2026

Maryam, a 39-year-old farmer from the southern Gaza Strip, says farming has always been a “lifeline” for her family of eight – even more so after October 2023. Restarting cultivation was key to generating income and re-finding a sense of purpose as she, her husband, their three children and extended family were repeatedly displaced.

Finding land to farm and cultivate grew increasingly difficult with each displacement, Maryam says. Agricultural land became more inaccessible as the conflict continued. Most remaining accessible land was damaged. Rehabilitating damaged land was challenging because no bulldozers were available to clear away rubble. When farmers found machinery, they often could not afford diesel to operate it.

After being displaced to Al-Mawasi, where Maryam and her family now stay, they eventually managed to find and rent one dunum (0.1 hectare) of land. However, stocks of seeds, fertilizers and irrigation materials were dwindling and their costs skyrocketed due to ongoing restrictions on commercial and aid imports of agricultural production materials into Gaza.

“Despite the difficult circumstances, I kept going,” Maryam says. “As a farmer, I always want to keep cultivating the land.”

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The conflict's escalation in the Gaza Strip nearly destroyed local farming. Barely one-quarter of the Gaza Strip’s total cropland remained accessible, and of that, only about 3 percent is undamaged and ready for immediate cultivation, according to a June 2026 analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT). Agricultural inputs remain scarce, costly and low quality.

Direct recovery and reconstruction needs for Gaza’s agrifood sector are estimated at USD 2.2 billion.

 In August 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an independent body involving FAO, other relevant UN agencies and international NGOs, confirmed Famine in Gaza Governorate and found the entire Strip faced crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above). The IPC identified the food system’s collapse as a key driver of Famine. Although Famine conditions have abated in the year since, particularly after the October 2025 ceasefire, a July 2026 IPC analysis found that about two-thirds of Gaza’s population continues to be in IPC Phase 3 or above. The analysis emphasized that gains were extremely fragile and can be reversed quickly without sustained and increased investments in humanitarian aid and private sector reactivation.

In the conflict's early months, FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Emergency Committee identified farmers who could access land but needed support cultivating it. In 2025, FAO began providing Conditional Cash+ for farmers to use to meet their self-identified needs and cultivate at least 1 dunum.

Over the past year, FAO supported 1 700 farmers, who have gone on to cultivate an estimated 4 250 dunums (425 hectares) and produce more than 5 600 metric tonnes of fresh vegetables. This amount is sufficient to cover the recommended annual vegetable intake of about 121 000 people (or more than 21 600 families) for over one year, based on dietary recommendations from FAO and the World Health Organization. The assistance helped generate income for approximately 9 500 people, including the farmers and their families.

The initiative is co-funded by Belgium, the European Union, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the oPt Humanitarian Fund.

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Maryam is one of the 1 700 farmers supported by FAO. After receiving cash assistance, she traveled long distances from Al-Mawasi to central Gaza to buy inputs. She also purchased water for irrigation.

She planted the land with okra and, in the first season, harvested approximately three tonnes. “We tend the crops every day, and every two or three days we harvest,” she says.

Her family keeps a portion of her harvest to eat themselves. Maryam sells the remaining harvest to neighbors, street vendors and vegetable traders. “Traders come here to the farm to buy my produce directly, so I sell it from here,” she says.

She used the remaining amount of FAO’s cash assistance to rent an additional two dunums in Al-Mawasi, where she plans to expand her cultivation to include eggplant and zucchini. She hired seven seasonal workers to support with irrigation, planting, harvesting and land preparation.

With the sales, she covers the family’s daily needs and pays her children’s university tuition fees. She saves the rest in hopes of one day building a greenhouse and opening her own vegetable store. “I always save seeds from each harvest to make sure I have seeds for the next planting seasons,” Maryam says.

Farming in Gaza remains challenging and dangerous, Maryam says. The westward expansion of the so-called Yellow Line demarcating the military-controlled area in the Gaza Strip has increasingly limited access to agricultural land and, therefore, potential for further expanding her farm. Maryam reports occasional incidents of stray gunfire near her farm. Still, she has never considered any profession other than farming.

“Farming is my life and my family’s life. It is the income source I depend on. Being able to farm again means that I am alive and that I can live with dignity with my family,” she says.

Under the 2026 Flash Appeal for the oPt, FAO is calling for USD 23.4M to support 9 763 vulnerable herding, farming and fishing families through Conditional Cash+ and targeted in-kind assistance. In parallel, FAO has formulated a ten-year Recovery and Reconstruction Programme for Gaza and, over the next three years, is calling for USD 90M to provide 12 000 families with Conditional Cash+ to restore and reactivate food production.