‘Green colonialism’ and wildfires: Will the world acknowledge Israel’s ecocide in Palestine?

Grass burns in an olive field after Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters during a Palestinian protest against Jewish settlements, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Photo: Reuters

On 30 April, Israel "scrambled for international aid" as wildfires raged near Jerusalem. Prime Minister Netyanhu called a national emergency, and witnesses spoke of a "wall of flames." Reportedly, the breadth of the fires was reminiscent of the 2010 Carmel fires in Israel, which killed 44 people. 

In the wake of this national crisis, Netanyahu accused Palestinians of arson, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the wildfires were "part of a climate crisis that must not be ignored," and fire officials pointed to negligent hikers as the cause. 

The wildfires were contained within 30 hours and no serious injuries were reported. However, 5,000 acres of land were destroyed, according to media reports. Out of this, 3,000 acres were forests, including roughly 70% of the West Bank's Canada Park. 

In the aftermath, something else came to the fore: the contributing effects of non-native plant species on wildfires. 

The wrong species can significantly raise wildfire risk in fire-prone ecosystems. One example is the eucalyptus tree, native to Australia and known to be highly flammable. Several regions, including California, have suffered the consequences.   

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Palestinian researcher Ghada Saha explained the connection between Israeli wildfires and "green colonialism". The PhD candidate at McMaster University stressed a critical phenomenon that's based on Israel's claim of planting 240 million trees since its founding in 1948. 

However, 90% of the trees are non-indigenous to the land. This includes Australia's eucalyptus trees. At the same time, Saha mentioned how in previous fires, invasive flora were documented to catch fire, while the olive trees, indigenous to the land, remained intact. 

Across the occupied Palestinian territories, about 1 million olive trees have been uprooted since 1948. 

Israel, indeed, has planted many trees in its stead, especially pine trees, which can grow and spread quickly. But by doing so, the state of Israel was removing hundreds of thousands of native flora and olive trees. 

In effect, they were taking over Palestinian land with the plantation, growing forests over ruins. At least 80 Palestinian villages are believed to be buried under the forests, according to the Al Jazeera report. 

Saha and journalist Jonathan Cook further explained how forests were planted and grown, particularly since 2010, as a way to establish Israel's stance as a frontrunner in fighting climate change and "distract [the world] from its crimes."

However, with the well-documented and established Gaza genocide entering its 19th month, Israel's claim to be concerned about climate change falls flat on its face. 

While geopolitical fault lines are experiencing tectonic shifts at several points around the world, Israel's ongoing destruction in Gaza remains unprecedented. 

Not only did the state carry out airstrikes and bomb several countries at the same time in the recent past, the scale and severity of the destruction it caused in Gaza have led experts and environmental organisations to consider these actions as constituting "ecocide" — widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural environment.

The price Gaza's land is paying 

Prior to Hamas' attack on 7 October 2023, approximately 47% of Gaza's land was dedicated to agriculture, including orchards and greenhouses. By early 2024, satellite imagery revealed that over 38% of this farmland had been destroyed due to Israeli military operations. 

By January 2025, 80% of Gaza's tree cover had been lost, either directly from bombardments or indirectly as residents resorted to cutting trees for fuel amid fuel shortages. This deforestation has led to significant loss of biodiversity and other critical environmental effects. 

The conflict has decimated Gaza's water and sanitation systems. All five of the territory's wastewater treatment plants have ceased operations, resulting in the daily discharge of over 130,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage into the Mediterranean Sea, contaminating coastal waters, soil, and freshwater sources with pathogens, microplastics, and hazardous chemicals. This poses immediate and long-term health risks to both humans and marine life. 

Additionally, the destruction of water infrastructure has led to a severe decline in water availability. The daily volume of water accessible per person has plummeted from 85 litres to just a few litres, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

Just in the first couple of months of the war starting in October 2023, Israel generated more greenhouse gases than 20 climate-vulnerable countries.

Lest we forget, the extensive bombardment has also generated an estimated 37 to 50 million tonnes of debris, much of which contains hazardous materials such as asbestos, heavy metals, and unexploded ordnance. This debris poses environmental risks, as toxic substances leach into the soil and groundwater. 

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that clearing this debris will be a massive and complex task, essential for any future recovery and reconstruction efforts. 

There's also significant environmental damage from Israel's decision to flood underground tunnels in Gaza with seawater. 

There's also the factor of air pollution. The destruction of infrastructure and the burning of various materials for cooking and heating due to fuel shortages have severely degraded air quality in Gaza. 

NASA satellite imagery recorded approximately 165 fires in Gaza from October 2023 to January 2024. The release of pollutants from these fires, combined with dust and debris from explosions, has led to significant air pollution. 

The scale of environmental destruction in Gaza has prompted calls from researchers and environmental organisations for the situation to be recognised as "ecocide" under international law. 

What is 'ecocide'?

The term was first coined in the 1970s — largely in response to the US military's use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, a herbicide and defoliant used to remove the leaves of trees and other dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover — but it has gained renewed legal interest in recent years.

University of London's Forensic Architecture and the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network have urged investigations into whether Israel's actions constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute, which includes provisions for environmental destruction, albeit in a limited capacity.

Article 8(2)(b)(iv) defines a war crime as, "Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that it will cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment, which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated."

However, this only applies during international armed conflict and sets a very high threshold of proof, making successful prosecution extremely difficult.

Currently, ecocide is not a standalone crime under international law. Unlike genocide or war crimes, there is no specific treaty or article that criminalises ecocide independently.

But there is a growing movement spearheaded by international legal experts and environmental groups to recognise ecocide as a crime under international law. They are campaigning to amend the Rome Statute to include ecocide as a fifth core crime under the ICC.

In 2021, an independent panel of international lawyers, commissioned by the Stop Ecocide Foundation, proposed the following legal definition, "Unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts."

While some countries (including Vanuatu, Maldives, France and Belgium) have expressed support for adding ecocide to international criminal law, a few countries (Ukraine, Vietnam and France) have domestic laws that criminalise ecocide or environmental destruction, but these are rare and vary widely in scope and enforcement.

Ukraine remains at the forefront of catalysing this advocacy. 

Since February 2022, Ukraine has formally accused Russia of committing ecocide in multiple instances during its ongoing invasion, as it rightfully should. 

Ukrainian authorities have initiated legal actions and investigations under both domestic and international frameworks to address the extensive environmental destruction attributed to Russian military activities.

Given continued assaults on Gaza's ecosystems and Israeli settlers' continued attacks on olive trees in the West Bank (on 5 May, reportedly, illegal Israeli settlers uprooted 100 olive trees in the West Bank), perhaps, the world can unanimously agree on Israel's act of ecocide, if not on genocide despite the glaring, undisputed evidence.