Less than 5 percent of Gaza's cropland is useable, UN assessment shows

Less than 5 percent of Gaza's cropland can be cultivated due to damage and access restrictions, "further deteriorating food production capacity and exacerbating the risk of famine in the area", according to a UN assessment published on Monday.

"This level of destruction is not just a loss of infrastructure - it is a collapse of Gaza's agrifood system and of lifelines," said Beth Bechdol, deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which produced the assessment alongside the UN Satellite Centre.

By the end of April, more than 80 percent of the farmland was damaged and 77.8 percent was no longer accessible, leaving barely 4.6 percent of potentially arable land, according to a new satellite assessment released by the FAO.

Before the start of the war, agriculture accounted for approximately 10 percent of Gaza's economy, with more than 560,000 people relying at least partially on farming, herding or fishing, the FAO said.