The Trees That Remain: Gaza’s Olive Harvest Begins Again

For generations, mawsim al-zaytoun, the olive season, has brought Palestinian families into the groves together.

Parents, grandparents and children pick side by side, gathering olives for their tables, presses and markets.

Children have always been part of this season, learning the land and its traditions through the hands of those who came before them.

So when we see children harvesting today - the necessity behind their work is the only new feature.


Only 3 percent of Gaza’s cropland remains both accessible and undamaged.

Before the genocide - farming, livestock and fishing supported the livelihoods of more than 560,000 people - 1/4 of the population.

Now, whatever can still be harvested can mean life or death.

On September 27 Gaza's farmers returned to land where hundreds of olive trees once stood searching for survivors.

Factories, quipment, and irrigation systems are lost, and farmers must decide what their families can eat and what they need to sell.

For children, that means a tradition once centered on family, culture and community now carries the pressure of survival.

Their hands are helping produce food, oil and income at a time when their households have painfully few alternatives.

One farmer, Ismail Hamada, lost his foot during the genocide, yet he still works among the trees because he wants to provide dignity for his family.

For thousands of years, olive trees covered enormous stretches of cultivated Palestinian land, and the harvest connected generations through work, food, & inheritance.


An olive tree can live for centuries, so a tree tended by one generation can feed another long after the person who planted it is gone.

That is why destroying olive groves is more than killing crops - it erases years of cultivation, income, inheritance and a living connection between people & land.

And yet, another harvest has arrived - among devastated farmland, surviving trees are bearing fruit.

In Gaza, an ancient tradition has collided with a very immediate struggle to survive.

The trees that remain are still giving what Palestinian ancestors put their hearts into.

This video was filmed by journalist Bakr Dwedar inside Gaza.

We created a webpage for people to learn more about the olive tree and the role it plays in Palestine.

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