Israeli authorities have “for days now” been opening rainwater stores near the besieged Gaza Strip drowning Palestinian land, the enclave’s agriculture ministry reported yesterday.

The ministry added that the occupation forces were “controlling the opening and closing of the rainwater stores in Gaza,” noting that it had damaged Palestinian farmers’ crops.

Two million Palestinians live in the enclave which has been under a strict Israeli-led siege for 13 years. As a result, unemployment has soared with the farming industries providing an income for thousands of Palestinians.

Poverty rates in Gaza reached 75 per cent in 2019, with 34 per cent of Gaza residents living in abject poverty, Deputy Welfare Ministry in Gaza Ghazi Hamad said in October last year.

Gaza farmers: ‘Israel destroyed all of our crops’