United Nations assessments show extensive damage to Gaza’s tree crops as monitors recorded attacks on West Bank olive harvesters, documenting pressure on farming livelihoods across Palestinian territories during the conflict.
Before the West Bank harvest’s scheduled Oct. 15 start, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had logged 199 settler attacks related to harvesting from Sept. 1 to Oct. 12, 2026. Its preliminary tally included one Palestinian death, 124 people injured and damage to more than 2,500 trees and saplings. OCHA attributed 92 injuries to settlers and 32 to Israeli forces in incidents connected to settler attacks.
OCHA estimates the harvest supports 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families. It also relayed the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture’s conditional forecast that olive-oil production could reach 21,000 tonnes in 2026, three times the 2025 figure of 7,000 tonnes, if farmers could access their groves.
A United Nations report published Oct. 22 said 286,000 olive trees had been damaged in the West Bank between 2023 and the end of September 2026, including 100,000 in 2026. Separately, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that satellite assessments showed damage to 97.1% of Gaza’s tree crops by May 2025. A joint analysis by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) found 90% damage in the olive-orchard category by Sept. 28, 2025. The figures cover different dates and crop categories.
A United Nations report published Oct. 22 also relayed two Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture estimates for Gaza: 90% of its two million olive trees had been destroyed since October 2023, and olive-sector losses had reached $157 million since then. UNEP said Gaza’s soil had been contaminated by munitions, solid waste and untreated sewage.
A 2011 study by the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy and Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, cited in a 2015 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report, put the number of productive olive trees uprooted from 1967 onward above 800,000.
Security constraints have prevented field-based environmental assessments in Gaza, UNEP said. The agency recommended a systematic soil survey to identify the contaminants present.
