SAFA — Israel’s war on Gaza has devastated the enclave’s olive oil sector, leaving 34 of its 40 olive presses out of service, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.

The ministry’s Olive Presses Committee conducted a field tour of several facilities to assess preparations for the current harvest season and identify the main challenges facing operators.

The committee found that the remaining presses are struggling with limited energy supplies and shortages of essential spare parts, driving up operating costs and affecting production capacity and olive oil quality.

The ministry called for urgent support to rehabilitate Gaza’s olive presses, describing them as a key part of the agricultural sector. It also urged that rehabilitation efforts be accompanied by programmes to replant olive trees and restore agricultural land destroyed during the war.

Before the war, around 50,000 dunams of land in Gaza were planted with more than 2 million olive trees. Around 40,500 dunams of olive-growing land have since been destroyed, devastating a crop that traditionally formed an important part of Gaza’s agricultural economy and food production.

The destruction has also crippled Gaza’s olive-processing infrastructure. Of the 40 olive presses operating before the war, only six remain operational, one in northern Gaza, four in the central governorate and one in Khan Younis.

Those still operating face shortages of electricity, fuel and spare parts, further restricting their ability to process the surviving olive harvest.

The Ministry of Agriculture said rehabilitating the presses and restoring olive groves would help farmers recover some of their losses while contributing to the revival of Gaza’s agricultural and economic activity.