“If we put our hands up, we will have a food crisis in Israel.”The Israel-Hamas war has plunged Israel’s agricultural heartlands, located around the Gaza Strip and in the north near the Lebanese and Syrian borders, into crisis.
Meanwhile, farms in the north produce 40% of the country's sub-tropical fruit and 70% of its eggs, the Agriculture Ministry said.
It also plans to build greenhouses to make up for potential shortages, construct hundreds of bomb shelters near farms and support volunteer efforts to fill labor gaps.
Before the war, roughly half of Israel's agricultural workforce was composed of foreign and Palestinian labor.
As Israel calls 360,000 reservists up for military service, posts from pickers to truck drivers have been left abandoned, the Agriculture Ministry says.
Persons:
Avi, —, ”, Chivivian, Uri Dorman, Dorman, Yated, “, I’m, Ben Assayag, it’s, Liad Vaknin, ” Vaknin, Marcelo, Wasser, “ I’m, ” ___ Frankel
Organizations:
Agriculture Ministry, Israel Farmers, West Bank, Israel’s Dairy, ” Volunteers
Locations:
ASHKELON, Israel, Gaza, Yated, Lebanese, Turkey, Haifa, Jerusalem, overdraft, Thailand, Rwanda, Ashkelon, Nirim, Argentina