Environmental quality: The aggression against Gaza destroys components of biodiversity

The Environmental Quality Authority said that the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip not only constitutes a humanitarian catastrophe, but also destroys all components of biological diversity, including plants and microorganisms.

It indicated, in a statement today, Tuesday, that the components of wildlife, including plant and animal diversity on land and offshore the Gaza Strip, were subjected to the strongest forms of destruction throughout the ages, as a result of the use of types of explosives and weapons, which led to the destruction of the habitats of wild animals, their killing, and the burning of all Forms of plant life, including trees, shrubs, and grasses, some of which are endemic to coastal and semi-coastal environmental conditions, which has led and continues to lead to the loss of certain species and even their permanent disappearance, which is known as extinction. 

The Environmental Quality Authority added that the aggression, by destroying stone, trees, and infrastructure, led to the pollution of water, air, and soil, and burned the land with all its terrain, transforming the place into mountains consisting of millions of tons of construction waste mixed with medical and household waste, sewage, and rainwater, reaching a portion of A large part of it goes to the sea, passing through the Wadi Gaza Reserve.

She said that the Wadi Gaza Reserve, which was adopted by the Palestinian National Authority in the late 1990s due to its importance from an environmental perspective, has today been transformed by internationally banned weapons into a mass grave for all forms of life, including humans, plants and animals, which led to the destruction of one of the most important bird migration routes. In different seasons of the year, these millions rested to obtain food and sometimes reproduced in the lands of Gaza and among its trees, specifically in the Gaza Valley area.

The Environmental Quality Authority stated that the Israeli war machine, including tanks and aircraft, caused disturbance and intimidation even to animals that had entered the winter hibernation phase, including snakes and many types of reptiles, and this matter led to these species emerging from their burrows in terror and meeting their death under the rubble of destroyed buildings. , or to die from the pollution caused by this genocide of all life.

She continued that the immediate effects of the aggression showed a change in the behavior of many wild animals that survived death, as we saw some animals attacking the bodies of the martyrs due to the intensity of their hunger and thirst, and this constitutes a dangerous shift in behavior, and the negative effects may affect forms of biodiversity represented by plants and animals. And microorganisms, which may prevent them from being able to reproduce in the future or suffer mutations and deformities as a result of pollution in all its forms.