Only three per cent of Gaza cropland remains usable
Food Security
How the score is calculated
The score starts at 8. It adds points from recorded affected, deaths, displaced and casualty counts, plus terms found in the story title, event type or status. For each count, only its highest matching band is used.
- Affected people
- 1–999: +5 · 1,000–9,999: +12 · 10,000–99,999: +20 · 100,000–999,999: +28 · 1 million+: +35
- Deaths
- 1–9: +8 · 10–99: +14 · 100–999: +22 · 1,000+: +30
- Displaced people
- 1–9,999: +6 · 10,000–99,999: +12 · 100,000+: +18
- Casualties
- 100 or more: +8
- Story wording
- +10 for terms such as catastrophe, famine, war, conflict, major earthquake, mass casualty or critical. Otherwise, +5 for active, ongoing, emergency, outbreak, cyclone or hurricane.
Score bands: Watch 0–24 · Moderate 25–49 · High 50–74 · Critical 75–100. Scores are capped at 100. Missing or unparseable figures add no points.
This is a rule-based WorldsAid triage indicator, not an official or independently validated classification. It does not account for recency or local context, and it can understate events with incomplete reporting. Check the linked sources.
In brief
- What happenedGaza's capacity to produce food locally has contracted further as access to farmland becomes increasingly restricted.
- How many affectedCropland accessible and undamaged: 448 hectares (3%) · Total accessible cropland: 4,091 hectares (27%) · Accessible cropland requiring rehabilitation: 3,643 hectares
- What help is neededRestoring food production will require safe access for farmers, agricultural inputs and sustained rehabilitation of damaged land and infrastructure.
What changed
First retained snapshot
No earlier verified snapshot is present in the recovered dataset. This record remains available as the historical baseline.
Situation
Gaza's capacity to produce food locally has contracted further as access to farmland becomes increasingly restricted. A geospatial assessment by FAO and UNOSAT found that, as of 24 June 2026, 4,091 hectares of cropland—27 per cent of the total—could still be reached. Most of that accessible land was not ready for cultivation: 3,643 hectares were damaged and would require rehabilitation. Only 448 hectares, equivalent to three per cent of Gaza's cropland, remained both accessible and undamaged. This usable area fell from 601 hectares in October 2025, a reduction of 153 hectares or 25.5 per cent. Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis recorded the largest reductions. Greenhouse availability also declined, with 224 hectares remaining accessible and undamaged. Rafah recorded the most severe access restrictions, affecting 97.2 per cent of cropland and 98.4 per cent of greenhouse area. The assessment indicates that reduced access, rather than new physical damage, was the main reason agricultural availability declined after October 2025. Restoring food production will require safe access for farmers, agricultural inputs and sustained rehabilitation of damaged land and infrastructure.
Linked charities and agencies
WorldsAid verification
A WorldsAid editor reviewed this record against 4 attributed sources, cleaned feed formatting and checked the crisis, place and reporting date. 10 human-impact figures were separated from the narrative and dated where the source allowed. Earlier observations remain in the evidence history instead of being silently overwritten.
Verified figures
- Cropland accessible and undamaged
- 448 hectares (3%) retained at 2026-08-18
- Total accessible cropland
- 4,091 hectares (27%) retained at 2026-08-18
- Accessible cropland requiring rehabilitation
- 3,643 hectares retained at 2026-08-18
- Usable cropland in October 2025
- 601 hectares retained at 2026-08-18
- Loss of accessible undamaged cropland
- 153 hectares (25.5%) retained at 2026-08-18
- Accessible undamaged greenhouse area
- 224 hectares (16.6%) retained at 2026-08-18
- Rafah cropland inaccessible
- 97.2% retained at 2026-08-18
- Rafah greenhouse area inaccessible
- 98.4% retained at 2026-08-18
- Pre-conflict livelihoods supported by agriculture
- >560,000 people retained at 2026-08-18
- Pre-conflict contribution of agriculture to Gaza's economy
- About 10% retained at 2026-08-18
What we knew when
- WorldsAid record entered the retained historical dataset.
- Last verification represented by this immutable snapshot.
Earlier figures are never replaced by later values; additional observations are retained as new ledger entries.
Provenance
This page renders the last verified WorldsAid cache directly in HTML. It does not treat generated summaries as primary evidence.
Cached dataset: worldsai_drup771.sql.gz
Verified
SHA-256 32136de3ddd9ffd421a68d27d9efb30a36ab2f537d17262eec91fe8b77526860