Braving Israeli attacks, Palestinian farmers continue farming using solar energy

By Yesim Yuksel

ISTANBUL (AA) – Braving relentless Israeli attacks, Palestinian farmers are trying to continue their agricultural and livestock activities by using solar panels.

While Israel has been bombing Gaza since last October, it has cut off the electricity connection in some parts of Palestine, leaving the Palestinian people in hunger and darkness. The production of Palestinian farmers is also affected by this situation.

The Union of Palestinian Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC), one of the largest agricultural development institutions in Palestine, is implementing projects that enable Palestinians to benefit from renewable energy, especially solar panels, in Gaza and the West Bank. In particular, by installing solar panels in places where there is no electricity due to Israeli restrictions, UAWC supports Palestinians in meeting their food and clean water needs.

Moayyad Bsharat, UAWC lobbying director, told Anadolu that the financial burden on Palestinian farmers has decreased thanks to solar panels.

Bsharat said that more than 50 solar panels were installed to support the agricultural sector in the Gaza Strip.

"Unfortunately, in this genocidal war, all solar panels in Gaza, except the Rafah region, were destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces. We continue our work to support our farmers and protect our lands,” he said.

Khadir Hmaidat, a farmer living in the West Bank, said that he bought a solar panel with the support of UAWC as it is costly to extract water from underground water wells using electricity.

Hmaidat said he has saved 50% in operating costs thanks to the water well he has been operating using solar panels since 2020.

The farmer said Israel prevents them from cultivating their lands so they irrigate their lands during the day, not at night, to avoid Israel's land restrictions.

Majdi Ahmad Arafat, who raised livestock using solar panels in his chicken farm before the Israeli attacks, said that he installed solar panels with the support of UAWC after the power outage in Gaza reached 16 hours a day.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which nearly 1,200 people were killed.

More than 33,970 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 76,700 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar