PARIS — Under five percent of Gaza's farmland is useable due to war, further exacerbating the risk of famine in the devastated Palestinian territory, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday.

 

Israel has stepped up a renewed offensive to destroy Hamas in Gaza, drawing international condemnation as aid trickles in following a nearly three-month blockade that has sparked severe food and medical shortages.

 

By the end of April, more than 80 per cent of the farmland was damaged and 77.8 per cent was no longer accessible, leaving barely 4.6 per cent of potentially arable land, according to a new satellite assessment released by FAO.

 

Some 688 hectares is all that remains for cultivation, according to the assessment.

 

The situation is particularly critical in southern Gaza's Rafah and in some northern areas, where nearly all cropland is not accessible.

 

"With cropland, greenhouses, and wells destroyed, local food production has ground to a halt," said Beth Bechdol, FAO deputy director-general.

 

Before the start of the war, agriculture accounted for approximately 10 percent of Gaza's economy, with more than 560,000 people relying at least partially on farming, herding or fishing, FAO said.

 

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that at least 3,785 people had been killed in the territory since a ceasefire collapsed on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,939, mostly civilians.