The Environmental Dimension of the Israeli-Hamas War in the Gaza Strip: a Political Ecological Analysis

Abstract

While the conflict between Israel and Palestine occurs in what is referred to as the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), this study focuses on Gaza, which is the site of the deadly war between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas, which was triggered by the deadly attacks of the latter on October 7, 2023.  The paper goes beyond framing the Israeli-Hamas conflict in the context of territorial dispute aggravated by ethnic discord, and provides a political-ecological lens through which the war can be analyzed. This study focuses on the structural conditions within which resource scarcity has engendered and enabled political violence. Resource deprivation in Gaza was in stark contrast to how Israel was able to turn relatively arid lands into arable farms through the use of modern technology. This led to an imbalance in agricultural productivity and economic wealth between Gaza and Israel, and a Gaza economy that was very much dependent on Israel. This was aggravated by defeat in previous wars. Resource scarcity in Gaza led to cross-border ethnic and cultural skirmishes, and the ensuing political violence was both symbolic and physical. Relative deprivation felt by the Palestinians in Gaza may have been partly driven by their adverse resource endowments, but the resource degradation was aggravated by the sequestration by Israel as an occupying force of vital environmental management services which made Gaza both deprived and dependent. The current conflict has further impaired the ecological health of Gaza, even as international law may be faced with challenges in holding Israel accountable for ecological damages.

Keywords: environment and violent conflict, environmental impacts of Israeli-Hamas war, environmental causes of Israeli-Hamas war, political ecology of violence, international law