In Gaza war doesn’t end with bombs. It continues in poisoned wells, toxic rubble, and dying fields. The Strip’s destruction has gone beyond buildings it’s unraveling the very ecosystems that sustain life. Today Gaza faces not just a humanitarian crisis, but an environmental collapse that could affect the region for generations. Water scarcity, sewage overflow, unbreathable air, and poisoned soil are now daily realities for millions.
The death of water
By early 2025, more than 85% of Gaza’s wells, desalination plants, and pumping stations were either destroyed or not functioning. All five sewage treatment plants stopped working by late 2024. Raw sewage now flows through city streets and into the Mediterranean, contaminating coastal waters and raising cholera risks.
Gaza’s only natural water source the coastal aquifer was already 97% undrinkable in 2023. Now, with power cuts and fuel shortages, families are forced to buy overpriced tanker water or drink from contaminated wells. Only 40% of pre-war water production remains.
Children are the most vulnerable. “They will begin to die of thirst,” warns James Elder of UNICEF. That warning is no longer hypothetical it’s already happening.
Fields of ruin
Gaza’s farmland has also been devastated. A UN survey in May 2025 found less than 5% of cropland usable. Over 80% is bombed, salted, mined, or simply inaccessible. Nearly all irrigation systems are broken. Once a fragile breadbasket, Gaza now relies entirely on food aid.
Making matters worse, the land is buried under 42 million tonnes of rubble, much of it contaminated with asbestos, heavy metals, and unexploded bombs. When dust blows through the air, it carries this toxic legacy into homes and lungs.
This pollution doesn’t stop at Gaza’s borders. The contaminated aquifer threatens Israeli wells. Sewage in the sea drifts towards desalination plants along Israel’s coast. Dust storms carry toxins into Egypt’s Sinai. Gaza is fast becoming an ecological sacrifice zone a poisoned space that risks harming its neighbors too.
Weaponised environment
The destruction isn’t random. Experts say Gaza essential infrastructure power grids, solar panels, fuel depots has been systematically targeted. Without electricity, water pumps and sewage systems can’t function. Humanitarian agencies estimate water access has fallen to just 10–25% of pre-war levels.
This is environmental collapse as a weapon. Hunger, thirst, and disease are being used to break civilian resistance. “We are seeing ecology turned into a battlefield,” says researcher Farah Al Hattab.
Can peace start with solar panels?
Some experts now call for an “ecological ceasefire” an urgent response to restore basic survival systems. This includes solar-powered water pumps, decentralised sewage treatment, and joint efforts to clean up soil, replant trees, and rebuild damaged ecosystems.
The goal is not just recovery, but regional climate justice a recognition that Gaza survival is tied to the broader Middle East’s environmental future. Without shared solutions, the cycle of war and collapse will only continue.
But competing visions are emerging. Leaked plans suggest turning Gaza into a luxury resort zone or high-tech manufacturing hub visions critics call out of touch with ground realities and dismissive of local voices.
Gaza future hangs in the balance. Will it be rebuilt as a community of dignity with clean water and livable air? Or will it remain a ghostland of toxic rubble and forgotten promises?
In Gaza, survival now depends not just on a ceasefire but on healing the land that war has broken.