Israel’s Gaza war producing ‘staggering’ carbon footprint

Israel’s Gaza war producing ‘staggering’ carbon footprint
The emissions caused by Israel’s war on Gaza as well as estimated reconstruction costs are greater than the annual footprint of 100 individual countries, new research has found. (AFP/File)
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Updated 30 May 2025
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Israel’s Gaza war producing ‘staggering’ carbon footprint

Israel’s Gaza war producing ‘staggering’ carbon footprint
  • Emissions from military activity, reconstruction more than annual footprint of 100 countries: Study
  • Analyst: ‘Sobering reminder of the ecological and environmental cost of Israel’s genocidal campaign’

LONDON: The emissions caused by Israel’s war on Gaza as well as estimated reconstruction costs are greater than the annual footprint of 100 individual countries, new research has found.

The war caused more carbon emissions than the annual combined total of Costa Rica and Estonia in its first 15 months.

The research, published by the Social Science Research Network, was shared exclusively with The Guardian.

Destroying, clearing and rebuilding the Gaza Strip could produce 31 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), researchers from the UK and US found.

There is no obligation for states to record military emissions to the UN’s climate body, with researchers warning that the lack of accountability could lead to an underreporting of the global carbon footprint.

The study’s data, which also includes estimates of emissions relating to Hamas and Hezbollah activity, highlights the asymmetry between each side.

Hamas’s use of bunker fuel and rockets accounted for about 3,000 tCO2e, just 0.2 percent of the conflict’s total carbon footprint.

Israel’s use of weapons, equipment, tanks and ordnance produced 50 percent of emissions, the study found.

Researchers also included estimated emissions from Yemen’s Houthi militia, which has traded strikes with Israel over the course of the war. Iran and Israel’s tit-for-tat attacks, and the war in southern Lebanon, were also recorded.

All military activity arising from the Gaza war produced the equivalent, in emissions, of charging 2.6 billion smartphones or running 84 gas power plants for a year.

The figure includes the tC02e estimate — 557,359 — of the pre-war construction of Hamas’s tunnel network and Israel’s “iron wall” barrier surrounding Gaza. The findings could eventually help calculate claims for reparations, The Guardian reported.

More than 99 percent of the tCO2e generated between Oct. 7, 2023, and the temporary ceasefire in January this year was attributed to Israeli bombardment and the invasion of Gaza.

US involvement in the emissions was also highlighted by researchers. They found that almost 30 percent of greenhouse gases generated in the same period came from regular resupply flights carrying military equipment to Israel from American stockpiles in Europe.

Israel’s destruction of Gaza has produced an estimated 60 million tonnes of toxic rubble that requires clearing, producing what researchers warned would be the biggest emissions toll of the conflict.

Removing debris, rebuilding 436,000 destroyed apartments, roads, 700 schools, mosques and administrative sites will produce an estimated 29.4 million tCO2e.

Zena Agha, analyst for Palestinian policy network Al-Shabaka, said: “This report is a staggering and sobering reminder of the ecological and environmental cost of Israel’s genocidal campaign … But this is also the US, UK and EU’s war, all of which have provided seemingly limitless military resources to enable Israel to devastate the most densely populated place on the planet.

“This brings home the destabilizing (regional) impact of the Israeli settler state and its inseparability from the western military-industrial complex.”

In producing the report, researchers used open-source information, media articles and data from independent groups, including UN agencies.

Hadeel Ikhmais, head of the climate change office at the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority, said: “Wars not only kill people but also release toxic chemicals, destroy infrastructure, pollute soil, air and water resources and accelerate climate and environmental disasters.

“War also destroys climate adaptation and hinders environmental management. Not counting carbon emissions is a black hole in accountability that allows governments to get away from their environmental crimes.”


Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan

Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan
Updated 3 min 15 sec ago
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Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan

Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan
BAGHDAD: A drone attack targeted Norwegian oil and gas firm DNO's oilfield in Tawke in the Zakho Administration area of northern Iraq on Thursday, according to the Kurdistan region's counter-terrorism service.
It is the second attack on the DNO-operated field amid a wave of drone attacks that began early this week.

PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs

PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs
Updated 7 min 4 sec ago
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PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs

PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs

Israel’s airstrikes blew up part of Syria’s defense ministry and hit near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

People took to the streets of Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs.


Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza

Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza
Updated 27 min 31 sec ago
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Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza

Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza
  • The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave

GAZA CITY: Two women were killed and several people were injured following a strike which hit the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.
The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli Defense Forces said it was looking into the matter.
Italy’s ANSA news agency said six people were seriously injured, while parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suffered light leg injuries.
“Israeli raids on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family Church,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.
“The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude,” she added.


Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport
Updated 48 min 8 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport
  • Israel has carried out several air strikes on Yemen, including on the port city of Hodeida earlier this month

Yemen’s Houthis claimed a missile launched at Israel’s main civilian airport, after the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from the Arabian Peninsula country.
The Houthis targeted Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv with a “Zulfiqar ballistic missile” and drone, military spokesman Yehya Saree said late Wednesday.
In the video statement, he also announced drone attacks on military targets and the southern Israeli port of Eilat.
The Houthis have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since the Gaza war began in October 2023, sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.
In response, Israel has carried out several air strikes on Yemen, including on the port city of Hodeida earlier this month.
The Israeli military had said that “following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, one missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted.”
Early on Wednesday, pro-government forces in Yemen said they seized “750 tons of weapons” en route from Iran to the Houthis.
US Central Command hailed the operation, calling it “the largest seizure of Iranian advanced conventional weapons in their history.”
Tarek Saleh, who heads the Yemeni National Resistance Forces, said in a post on X that the seizure included “naval and air missile systems, an air defense system, modern radars, drones, monitoring devices, anti-tank missiles, B-10 artillery, tracking lenses, sniper rifles, ammunition, and military equipment.”
Earlier this month, the Houthis resumed deadly attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting ships they accuse of having links to Israel, to force Israel to end the Gaza war.


Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say
Updated 17 July 2025
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Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say
  • “We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify,” a city health official told Reuters

BAGHDAD: A massive fire in a hypermarket in Al-Kut city in eastern Iraq has left at least 60 people dead and 11 others missing, the city’s health authorities and two police sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Videos circulating on social media showed flames engulfing a five-story building in Al-Kut overnight as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos.
“We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify,” a city health official told Reuters.
“We have more bodies that have not been recovered still under fire debris,” city official Ali Al-Mayahi told Reuters.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but the province’s governor said initial results from an investigation would be announced within 48 hours, the state news agency (INA)reported.
“We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,” INA quoted the governor as saying.