Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the war in Gaza has caused lasting environmental destruction, urging Israel to open the territory to more humanitarian aid. He was addressing the COP31 gathering on Wednesday.
“What has taken place in Gaza is not only a genocide, but it is also an ecocide,” Erdogan said, drawing applause from leaders and climate envoys at the UN conference in Antalya.
He said centuries-old olive trees have been cut down, soil and water polluted, and cities reduced to rubble, and that torrential rain and flooding has inundated tens of thousands of tents and shelters.
Israel was not invited to the summit as Turkiye has maintained its stance from day one of the Gaza war. Moreover, a UN-backed panel of independent experts concluded last year that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
The remarks from Edrogan come as heavy rain in recent days destroyed many of the tents and makeshift shelters where displaced Palestinians live.
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At least four people died earlier this week when a sand embankment collapsed on their shelter, and many families are left without food, drinking water or a dry place to sleep.
The war has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of Gaza’s housing, roads, hospitals, schools, and water and sewage systems.
A 2025 report by the UN Environment Program laid out the scale of the damage to the land. Remote sensing showed that by May 2025, more than 97% of tree crops had been damaged, along with 82% of annual crops, 95% of shrubland and 89% of grass and fallow land.
The report said Gaza’s fishing livelihoods had been all but eliminated, with marine ecosystems contaminated by munitions, sewage and solid waste.
World leaders began formal COP31 negotiations this week, seeking agreement on concrete steps to curb global warming after a year of deadly floods, heat waves, and other climate disasters.
More than 70 leaders and senior officials are speaking, though the heads of state of the United States, China and India are absent.
