The war in Gaza is pushing beekeeping to the brink of extinction

Beekeeping, one of the oldest agricultural professions in the Gaza Strip, has become a sector facing extinction after the Israeli war destroyed most apiaries and damaged the vegetation upon which the bees depend, depriving hundreds of families of their livelihood.

Beekeeper Amin Lotfi Eid Abu Abdullah, owner of an apiary in Gaza, said that before the war, the beekeeping sector included about 950 beekeepers. Honey was sold within Gaza, and some was exported. However, the majority of apiaries, which were concentrated east of Salah al-Din Street, were destroyed and bulldozed, and beekeepers were only able to salvage a limited number of hives.

He added that beekeepers who once owned hundreds of hives now have only a few left, due to a severe shortage of beehives, frames, and wax, and their exorbitant prices. The disappearance of the vegetation, which is the bees’ primary food source, has made resuming work in this profession extremely difficult.

Abu Abdullah appealed to international organizations to provide beehives and breeding supplies, and to open safe areas for beekeepers, stressing that the costs of rebuilding apiaries have become beyond the capacity of those working in this sector.

For his part, environmental expert Nizar al-Wahidi stated that the war resulted in the loss of more than 30,000 beehives that produced between 250 and 300 tons of honey annually, in addition to other beekeeping-related products such as beeswax, royal jelly, pollen, and bee venom. He noted that the losses in the beekeeping sector exceed $8 million annually, as it provided a source of income for approximately 1,000 families.

Al-Wahidi emphasized that about 98% of Gaza’s apiaries were located east of Salah al-Din Street, an area that lost most of its vegetation cover due to the bulldozing carried out by the Israeli occupation during its war on the Gaza Strip.