Two and a half years after the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza’s bird populations have suffered terrible losses.
More than 93 percent of the territory’s poultry farms are gone, and important resting places for millions of migrating birds now lie in ruins, according to United Nations reports and human rights groups.
Before the fighting started in October 2023, Gaza had about 6,500 small poultry farms.
These farms produced nearly three million chickens every month and helped feed many families. Today, almost all of them have been destroyed.
The few that remain had to close because there is no food, water, or medicine for the birds.
Human rights monitors say Israeli military operations and the lack of supplies have wiped out around 97 percent of all livestock in Gaza, including chickens, cows, sheep, and goats.
Many birds died instantly when bombs hit farms and homes.
Others starved slowly because farmers could not reach them.
The damage goes beyond farm birds.
Gaza sits on one of the world’s busiest bird migration paths.
Every year, millions of storks, flamingos, herons, hoopoes, and turtle doves stop here to rest on their journey between Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Scientists once counted more than 250 different bird species in the area.
Now, airstrikes, ground fighting, and the clearing of farmland have destroyed wetlands, fields, and trees where birds feed and nest.
Smoke and dust from explosions have made the air and soil unsafe.
Tired migrating birds can no longer find safe places to land, and many species that were common in Gaza are now missing or at risk.
“Gaza used to be a special place where birds from three continents met,” said Palestinian ecologist Abdel Fattah Abd Rabou.
“The loss of nearly all crops and orchards means it will take many years, perhaps decades, for nature to recover.”
The United Nations Environment Programme warns that this damage to soil and plants will affect wildlife and food supplies for a long time.
No one deliberately targeted the birds, but the war has caused serious unintended harm to Gaza’s natural life.
As ceasefire talks continue, experts are calling for help to check the damage, restore habitats, and support any surviving farms.
For now, the skies over Gaza are strangely quiet, a sad sign of how war affects even the smallest living creatures.
The true number of birds lost may never be known exactly, but one thing is clear: the war has silenced Gaza’s birds.
Author
