By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Haseen Alwazeer
CAIRO/GAZA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A group of farmers has been working to preserve Gaza's native crops by rebuilding a local seed bank that was destroyed during Israel's war in the enclave and by encouraging Palestinians to cultivate what little viable land they have left.
Most of Gaza's pre-war farmland lies in an area under Israeli military occupation. Gaza's entire 2 million population is penned into around 30% of the tiny enclave, much of which was laid to waste
by two years of Israeli bombardment.
That includes Gaza farmer Salama Muhanna's "Bank of Seeds", which he says was destroyed in Qarara town, south of the enclave, in early 2024, several months after the Hamas-led attacks that precipitated Israel's military assault.
Before the war, Muhanna said, "we had refrigerators, solar power, a dryer, a seed-cleaning and sorting machine - we had everything." The bank had once held 70 tons of stocks for 42 different crops, including black-eyed peas, watermelon and sage, all staples of Palestinian agricultural heritage, he said.
Muhanna, 71, said he and his team of farmers have rebuilt a modest stock of some 32 local seeds in recent months, through contributions from farmers who worked with the bank before the war.
The seeds are carefully arranged in burlap sacks and plastic containers in a makeshift tent now in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. He and his team also cultivate seedlings in fields surrounding the tent.
Local heirloom seeds are more resilient than hybrid varieties available for import, Muhanna said, as they can be saved and replanted year after year.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
FARMERS USE SEEDS TO CULTIVATE LAND NEAR 'YELLOW LINE'
Farmers see local seed banks as protection against border closures and supply restrictions, but say they do little to offset the devastation of Gaza's agricultural sector, once a backbone of the economy.
According to a June report by Gaza's Agriculture Ministry, about 560,000 people depended wholly or partly on agriculture and fishing for their livelihoods before the war.
"What is being done through the seed bank, and the seeds currently available, represents only a drop in the ocean compared with the needs facing the agricultural sector," said Osama Al-Mukhalalati, an agricultural engineer with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Mustafa Al-Astal, who runs a nursery in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, said local seeds had become "the only lifeline" when Israel tightened import restrictions and humanitarian aid flows during 2025.
Israel said that measure was aimed at pressuring the militant group Hamas during ceasefire talks. It was condemned by Palestinians and rights groups as a form of collective punishment, and a global hunger monitor said it set off famine in parts of Gaza.
Much of Gaza's farmland lies along and beyond the "Yellow Line" to which Israeli troops were meant to withdraw under an October 2025 Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Reuters has reported that Israel has unilaterally moved the concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line on the ground deeper into Hamas-controlled territory.
Local farmers say this has put even more viable farmland off limits, and exposed those who tend areas near it to Israeli gunfire.
Khaled Al-Astal, a Palestinian farmer who has been planting seeds from Muhanna's seed bank in an area 500 metres (550 yards) from the Yellow Line, said he and other farmers have no plans to leave the area, despite the danger of Israeli attacks.
"We only have about 25% to 30% left (of Gaza). So we say: we are here on our land, and we will cultivate it despite them."
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Haseeb Alwazeer in Gaza; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Timothy Heritage)
