Gaza Beekeepers Struggle to Rebuild Livelihoods Amidst Widespread Destruction

Honey production in Gaza has fallen to approximately 10 percent of its pre-war levels as beekeepers struggle to rebuild their livelihoods amidst widespread destruction. According to agricultural engineer and beekeeper Rateb Sammour, around 700 hives remain out of the roughly 30,000 that existed before the conflict. Honey production had already been declining from 400 metric tons annually to about half that amount due to climate change before the war dealt a more severe blow.

Beekeepers are now salvaging what they can in areas where neighborhoods have been reduced to wreckage. Some have moved hives to rooftops because agricultural land is destroyed or inaccessible, while others use sugar supplements to feed bees where forage is unavailable. Ibrahim al-Dabba, a beekeeper who paid 10,000 shekels, or about 3,245 dollars, for three hives, noted that they are forbidden from entering agricultural areas within the yellow line military demarcation established under the ceasefire.

By late April, Israel effectively controlled an estimated 64 percent of Gaza. Nearly all of the territory's roughly 2 million residents are concentrated in a narrow coastal area under Hamas control, where they live in makeshift shelters or damaged buildings and face dire humanitarian conditions. In the central Gaza camp of Nuseirat, beekeeper Fahd al-Dahdouh is spending his time repairing shattered hive boxes recovered from destroyed farming areas.