Israeli war on Gaza costs Palestinian farmers more that USD 10 mln — experts

United Nations experts on Wednesday warned of repeated and violent attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank against Palestinian farmers cost them losses estimated at 10 million dollars, citing also restrictions imposed on the farmers by Israeli occupation forces. The group of experts included the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on Safe Drinking Water, and Sanitation Pedro Arrojo Agudo. In a press statement issued from Geneva, they pointed out that the escalating violence by armed settlers and Israeli occupation forces could undermine the food security of Palestinian families and constitute a direct violation of their right to self-determination. In 2023, Palestinians in the West Bank including East Jerusalem faced the highest-level violence by Israeli settlers, including physical assault, setting fire or damaging Palestinians property and crops. They reported that more than 9.600 hectares equivalent to more than 96000 dunums of olive-cultivated land remained unharvested this year due to restrictions imposed by Israeli forces resulting in the loss of 1.200 metric tons of olive oil. The experts also warned that the situation is becoming direr as Israeli occupation authorities have increasingly revoked farmers' permits to access their lands and closed key checkpoints further threatening the olive harvest. They called for immediate measures to stop these violent actions and protect the rights of Palestinian farmers to access their land and resources. Source: Kuwait News Agency