Gaza strip

Israel have begun an aggressive pesticide spraying campaign along the Gaza border between 25 December and 5 January, despite claims by Palestinian farmers that it damages crops and harms the health of those nearby.  The Palestinian ministry of agriculture has condemned the spraying by Israeli occupation authorities, and have warned local residents to expect a loss of crops as a result. Middleeastmonitor.com reports: The ministry’s statement was reported by a number of media outlets.

The Gaza strip may become uninhabitable by 2020 if nothing is done to address the water crisis in the world’s largest open prison. 1.9 million Palestinians are trapped in a narrow strip of land, living under an illegal blockade enforced by Israel. Only 10 percent of Gazans have access to clean drinking water, the World Bank said on Tuesday, calling the situation “alarming”. Gaza’s water supply could be irreversibly ruined soon as sea water seeps into destroyed infrastructure making the Palestinian territory uninhabitable.

Israeli warplanes launched two airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday morning following reports that a rocket had landed in southern Israel late on Wednesday night. The airstrikes hit an area west of Rafah and the Nuseirat refugee camp located in the southern and central Gaza Strip according to Palestinian media reports. According to Press TV: No casualties have yet been reported in the Thursday morning attacks that followed alleged reports of a rocket fired at an open area in the western part of the occupied Palestinian territories on Wednesday night.

The Israel Air Force have turned Gaza into a warzone again on Wednesday evening, officially declaring the area a “military zone” after the army fired tank shells at the Palestinian occupied territory.  The shelling comes in response to an alleged mortar fire near the border which Israel says Hamas had fired towards Israeli forces in an attempt to deter them from searching for tunnels. haaretz.com reports: According to reports in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, five airstrikes targeted Hamas training camps in the vicinity of the airport and in the center of the enclave.

A fuel shortage has forced the only power station in the Gaza Strip to shut down as the Palestinian territory suffers from nine years under Israeli siege. An official from the Gaza Energy Ministry, said on Tuesday that the power plant has been closed since Saturday night after it ran out of fuel. Press TV reports: Meanwhile, the United Nations said parts of the coastal sliver have been without power for 20 hours a day, compared to 12 hours previously.