Israelis are struggling with a steep rise in prices and reduced availability of the wonderful local fresh produce and dairy products usually found in abundance in supermarkets and groceries.
There’s a reason for that, and it has nothing to do with the global economy. This is about war.
Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, has launched more than 6,800 missiles towards Israel since October 8, 2023.
The incessant attacks have created far more damage than the reported deaths and injuries, and destruction of homes, factories, vehicles and buildings.
Agricultural and industrial production capacity has been seriously damaged in northern Israel due to the daily rocket, missile and explosive drone attacks launched by Hezbollah.
It’s estimated that farmers in the north have suffered at least NIS 1 billion in indirect damages.
Impact on Harvests From Start of War
The war broke out at the beginning of the harvest and its consequences are noticeable and ongoing in the citrus industry, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Due to evacuations, departure of Thai workers and prohibition on workers from the Palestinian Authority and the inability of Israeli workers to access their orchards and fields due to the security situation there has been severe damage to the agricultural sector.
Israelis who remained to work their fields have done so under active rocket and explosive drone fire. This has seriously damaged cultivation, irrigation, plant protection treatments and pest control, causing damage to the quality of whatever fruit can be and has been harvested and brought to market.
Significant Damage to Fields
There are 49,145 agricultural fields in the Galilee and Golan Heights, according to Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
There are approximately 4,942 acres of plantations in northern Israeli communities affected by the war. More than 247 acres were burned, out of 346 cultivated acres.
Thousands of Acres of Fruit Orchards Destroyed
About a third of Israel’s agricultural land is located in the Upper Galilee and Maale Yosef, where about half of the country’s olive oil is produced from the 32,124 acres on which olive trees cultivated.
In addition, about 11,614 acres of avocados, some 6,425 acres of grapes (most of which are wine grapes), about 1,829 acres of plums, about 2,718 acres of mangoes, 3,830 acres of peaches and nectarines, about 1,977 acres of bananas and some 1,927 acres of citrus fruits are grown in the region.
Other significant crops in the north include wheat (approx. 13,838 acres), apples (approx. 2,471 acres), pears (approx. 1,708 acres) and corn (approx. 2,965 acres) as well as some kiwi orchards.
Along Israel’s border with Lebanon, within two kilometers, there are approximately 401 acres of pear orchards, 1,685 acres dunams of peach and nectarine orchards, 136 acres of cherry trees, 91 acres of apricot trees, 277 acres of plum trees and 1,258 acres of apple trees.
Nature Reserves, National Parks Blackened
According to Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority, since the beginning of 2024, approximately 34,265,856 acres of land have been burned in northern Israel, with more than 63 percent of the fires recorded in nature reserves and national parks.
In the Golan Heights, about 19,123,732 acres of land have been blackened, with 63 percent of the fires recorded in nature reserves and national parks.
In the Upper Galilee, 11,478,292 acres of land have been burned in Israeli communities, nature reserves, agricultural fields, and national parks.
Dairy Industry Also Impacted
In the area of the Yehudiya Reserve and Nahal Zoitan, more than 2,471 acres of grazing land were burned along with 25 acres of wheat and corn fields — and their electric irrigation systems.
In the dairy industry, there are eight dairy farms producing 22 million liters of milk annually in communities located up to five kilometers from the Lebanese border.
Humanitarian Crisis in Northern Israel
Thirty people have been killed in rocket and drone attacks, including 11 civilians and 19 security personnel, since the start of the war, in addition to 205 wounded, including 72 civilians and 133 security forces.
But the biggest humanitarian crisis in the north is due to the tens of thousands of Israelis who have been driven from their homes by Hezbollah.
A total of 62,305 residents of northern Israel remain internal refugees, having been evacuated at the start of the war. A significant number also have no homes to eventually return to, because their homes were destroyed by rocket fire.
There are 17,144 northern evacuees living in hotel rooms; 45,074 evacuees are living temporarily in other communities, and 87 evacuees have rented new living quarters elsewhere in Israel.
At least 15,750 evacuees are minors, from infancy to age 18. More than 5,500 evacuees are ages seven to 12.
According to Israel’s Tax Authority, there have been 3,919 claims submitted for damage to buildings and property in northern Israeli communities. Of those, nearly 2,300 were claims for damage to buildings, nearly 800 were claims for damage to vehicles, and 146 claims were submitted for damage to agriculture.
The Tax Authority adds, however, that “thousands more claims are expected to be received” from evacuees who have not yet reached their homes in the north.
The vast damage — current and future — resulting from the ongoing war with Hezbollah becomes even more clear, when one considers the massive damage to the social fabric of the State of Israel and to the former residents of the 21 communities who were expelled by the government in 2005 from the Gush Katif region in Gaza and northern Samaria.
Those 8,600 Israeli residents forced from their homes in 2005 suffered massive economic, social, emotional, marital and mental health damage as a result. Many remained homeless for years, unable to rebuild their lives or purchase new homes while still being forced to pay mortgages on their former homes. Many of those who had thriving agricultural business were unable to start new ones either due to age, depression, lack of resources or other challenges.
Now, consider this: Due to the war launched by Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north — both Iranian proxies — there are approximately 100,000 Israelis who have been forced from their homes, and remain internal refugees since October 7, 2023, with no way to know how long — or if ever — they will be able to return to their lives.
Hamas and Hezbollah have succeeded in damaging — if not altogether destroying — the lives of ten times the number of Israelis who were forced from their homes in 2005.
Can you imagine the current and future social, emotional, economic, physical and mental health damage that will challenge Israeli society, thanks to Iran’s proxy war?
