146 square kilometers of vegetation scorched in north since October 7 — study
Environment ministry says 145,000 tons of dry vegetation went up in flames between October 7 and July 30, much of it caused by rocket fire from Lebanon and Gaza
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
Around 146 square kilometers (56 square miles) of vegetation in northern Israel and eight square kilometers (three square miles) along the Gaza border have been incinerated during the war that broke out following the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, with most of the blazes sparked by terror groups’ rocket fire, the Environmental Protection Ministry said Thursday.
The former represents a fivefold increase in the average surface area that has burned annually over the past decade in the Galilee and the Golan Heights in northern Israel.
The latter is twice the annual average over the past eight years. In years gone by, multiple blazes were sparked along the Gaza border by incendiary balloons sent from the Gaza Strip.
There are no natural bushfires in Israel because there are no summer storms. All are caused by humans, either negligently or deliberately.
The figures, presented by the ministry based on satellite data from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, quantify the scale of devastation to forests, fields, and other open habitats caused by rocket barrages.
More than 21,500 rockets have been fired at Israel since October 7, including around 8,000 from Lebanon and 13,000 from Gaza.
These figures do not include hundreds of drones and anti-tank guided missiles shot from Lebanon, nor weapons fired by terrorists in Yemen and Iraq.
Since October 8, Hezbollah’s almost daily attacks — which the terror group says are in support of Hamas — have killed 26 civilians and 20 IDF soldiers and reservists.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on the Israeli side of the Gaza border began with a massive rocket barrage. Rockets from the enclave have continued to pound Israel, although with decreasing intensity.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s invasion on October 7, during which gunmen massacred 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped 251 to the Gaza Strip.
The fires also contributed to an increase in pollution, while the war hampered efforts to accurately measure emissions, the ministry said.
In a report published Thursday, the ministry estimated that 145,000 tons of dry vegetation went up in flames between October 7 and the end of July.
This accounted for 44 percent of carbon monoxide emissions during the period, 13% of fine particulate matter (where particles are 2.5 microns or less in diameter), 12% of particulate matter ((where particles are 10 microns or less in diameter), seven percent of non-methane volatile organic compounds, and one percent of emissions from ammonia and nitrogen and sulfur oxides.
Citing the war, nine out of 40 large companies close to the northern and Gaza borders failed to report their emissions to the ministry last year, as they are required to do by law.
Emissions data supplied by some 560 large industrial concerns forms the backbone of the ministry’s annual reports on air, soil, and water pollution.
The Orot Rabin power station in central Hadera also cited the war, in this case, as the reason for operational changes that led to a 24% increase in emissions of large particulate matter in 2023 compared to 2022. The plant said a crane collapse in southern Ashdod last year also contributed to the rise. Large quantities of coal had to be transported from Hadera to Ashdod’s Rutenberg power plant because it could not be delivered by ship.
The Rutenberg power plant blamed the war for emissions of 728 tons (650 imperial tons) of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, as did the Ashdod oil refinery, which released 290 tons (258 imperial tons) of sulfur oxides. In large quantities, these gases can affect respiration and cause acid rain.
Still trailing behind OECD partners
The 2023 picture paints an overall downward trend in emissions, but it shows Israel trailing behind its OECD partners in cutting global warming gases.
Changes in calculation methods for 2023 made many comparisons with 2022 impossible.
The ministry estimated the external costs of emissions into the air (those that indirectly impact the environment and public health) at NIS 38 billion ($10.3 billion), down NIS 1.3 billion ($353.5 million) from 2022.
Transportation (35%), electricity generation (27%), and industry (15%) were mainly responsible for the external costs.
