At the end of winter, when strawberry season was at its peak in the Gaza Strip, Akram Abou Khoussa and his brothers’ farm was a popular tourist spot. Their one and a half hectares of land in the far northern town of Beit Lahiya had the feel of a rural paradise, far from the dense urban sprawl of Gaza. Before the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, families would come to sip strawberry juice or stroll through the fields. The family grew cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, melons and potatoes, but most of their income came from strawberries. Khoussa used to produce about 40 metric tons each year, selling them for up to 30 shekels (about €7.50) per kilo outside the local market at the height of the season. Since 2015, strawberries had been one of the few fruits authorized for export from the Palestinian enclave under strict Israeli blockade. They flooded the stalls of the West Bank – 185 hectares in Gaza were dedicated to their cultivation, mainly in Beit Lahiya.
“We lived very well. We never ran out of strawberries; we even froze some,” said Khoussa, reached by Le Monde by phone from central Gaza, where he was forced to evacuate with his family. Israeli authorities have banned press access to the Gaza Strip for 21 months. “At the start of the war, the farm was destroyed – the fields, my house and my brothers’ houses.” The 58-year-old farmer fled with his family in the days after October 7. His land, less than 2 kilometers from Israeli territory, was especially exposed. Beit Lahiya, a town of just under 100,000 residents, was methodically emptied of its population and largely destroyed by the Israeli army. Satellite images show entire neighborhoods leveled. The green fields on the outskirts of Gaza have disappeared – the entire enclave is gray, the color of ruins.
You have 77.31% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
