August 16, 2026
ALL ASPECTS OF PALESTINIAN LIFE UNDER ATTACK
Israel Threatens to Destroy Thousands of West Bank Olive Trees Ahead of Harvest–Putting Palestinian Livelihoods and Community Health At Immediate Risk.
Israeli military orders threaten thousands of olive trees across more than 200 dunums in the Jenin area. The orders follow a documented and accelerating pattern that has already destroyed close to 400,000 Palestinian trees since 2023.
WHO: Interviews available immediately from the West Bank with:
Tayseer Sadaqa, former Mayor of Anza (a village in Jenin)
Maysa Hawwash, Doctors Against Genocide
MEDIA CONTACT: Gur Tsabar, movementmediahub@gmail.com, +1 347.248.1390 cell/Signal/WhatsApp
WEST BANK — Doctors Against Genocide is calling for the immediate cancellation of Israeli military orders threatening thousands of olive trees across more than 200 dunums in the Jenin-area villages of Anza, Ajjah, Arraba, Ya’bad and Marka, just weeks before the Palestinian olive harvest.
Landowners have received written notices in Hebrew ordering the removal of olive trees on their agricultural land, reportedly on the grounds that the trees obstruct visibility. Doctors Against Genocide is calling for the orders to be withdrawn in full.
THE TREES ARE PART OF A LARGER PATTERN
The threatened destruction is not an isolated incident. Palestinian institutions have documented a sharp acceleration in Israeli orders requiring the removal of trees and crops from Palestinian land on stated security grounds.
The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission recorded 47 such orders covering 1,613 dunums in 2025. In the first six months of 2026 alone, it recorded 49 orders covering 2,093 dunums.
The consequences extend far beyond a single harvest. Removing mature olive trees destroys food production, family income and the long-term productive capacity of the land. When land can no longer be cultivated, its abandonment can then be used as a basis for further restrictions and seizure.
JENIN IS ALREADY AT THE CENTRE OF THE ESCALATION
The Jenin governorate has experienced a dramatic increase in agricultural destruction. Documented agricultural losses reached $6.5 million in all of 2025, but $17.7 million in the first six months of 2026 alone, driven overwhelmingly by the destruction of 23,149 olive trees.
Across the West Bank, documented direct agricultural losses reached $257.9 million between January 2023 and June 2026, while 398,168 trees were cut, burned, uprooted or bulldozed. The annual rate of tree destruction has increased roughly six-fold since 2023.
For Palestinian families, these losses are economic, environmental and health losses at once. More than 10 million olive trees are cultivated across the West Bank, and between 80,000 and 100,000 families depend on olives and olive oil for primary or secondary income. Mature olive trees can take decades to reach full production.
“These are not simply trees. They are food, income and the environmental foundation of entire communities. As physicians, we know that health is produced in the conditions where people live, not only in hospitals. For farming communities, land is itself a determinant of health.” — Doctors Against Genocide
THE DESTRUCTION IS HAPPENING ALONGSIDE ESCALATING SETTLER VIOLENCE
The assault on agricultural livelihoods is occurring alongside a broader escalation in restrictions, settler violence and attacks on Palestinian civilian life across the West Bank.
The World Health Organization documented 233 attacks on health care in the West Bank in 2025, while UN OCHA has recorded more than 1,200 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage since the beginning of 2026. Forty-seven Palestinian communities have been entirely displaced since January 2023.
For Doctors Against Genocide, these developments cannot be separated. Restricting access to health care, attacking communities, destroying agricultural livelihoods and making land increasingly inaccessible all undermine the conditions necessary for Palestinian communities to remain healthy and remain on their land.
THE DESTRUCTION IS UNLAWFUL
The proposed destruction raises serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the prohibition under Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the destruction of private property in occupied territory except where absolutely necessary for military operations.
International humanitarian law also protects objects indispensable to civilian survival, including agricultural areas used to produce food. The International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion further affirmed the illegality of Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory and the obligations of third states not to recognize or assist in maintaining that unlawful situation.
OUR DEMANDS
Cancel the orders immediately. The threatened olive trees must not be destroyed.
Establish an immediate international presence in Anza, Ajjah, Arraba, Ya’bad and Marka and other threatened communities to document and help prevent the destruction.
Protect Palestinian farmers and the olive harvest, including through an international protective presence.
For third states to meet their legal obligations and take concrete measures to ensure they are not assisting in maintaining an unlawful situation.
MEDIA: VISIT BEFORE THE TREES ARE DESTROYED
Doctors Against Genocide urges international journalists, human rights organizations and environmental organizations to visit the affected communities and document the situation now.
The window to prevent this destruction is open, but it is short.
