Independent Wonders Why Gaza's Environment is 'After War' Apocalypse
The Independent details Gaza's 'environmental freefall,' citing poisoned water and shattered infrastructure, acknowledging that 'approximately 80 per cent of all croplands... had been either damaged or destroyed.' This passive voice ballet conveniently omits the active agents. This isn't Mother Nature’s tantrum; it’s the result of continuous bombardment and siege described by monitoring groups
like Human Rights Watch as collective punishment, going back decades. It appears that 'environmental freefall' is the polite term for ecocide when the perpetrator is a US ally. We’re told about the damage 'after war,' as if the war is some natural disaster and not an ongoing, systematic campaign against human habitability. One might wonder if the same poetic distancing would apply if, say,
American croplands were 80% destroyed. The devastation outlined isn't an unfortunate side effect; it's a feature of a siege that began long before October 7th, 2023, and accelerated dramatically since. The sewage pumping stations described as failing didn't spontaneously crumble; they were bombed, or starved of fuel and parts by blockade, as detailed by UN OCHA reports year after year. How many
'reports say' before someone asks: who did this?