Ramallah- July 31, 2025: In a grave escalation of its assault on Palestinian agricultural sovereignty, Israeli military forces carried out a violent raid this morning targeting the Seed Multiplication Unit of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)’s Seed Bank, located in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Using bulldozers and heavy machinery, the Israeli army destroyed the storage warehouses and infrastructure of the unit, where essential equipment, seed materials, and tools for indigenous seed reproduction were kept. The destruction was carried out without warning, under military protection, and constitutes a direct blow to Palestinian efforts to preserve local biodiversity and ensure food sovereignty.
This deliberate targeting of a civilian agricultural facility is a strategic attack on the very foundations of Palestinian resilience. The Seed Bank has played a critical role in safeguarding traditional seed varieties and empowering small-scale farmers through local seed reproduction and exchange.
The attack comes amid increasing settler violence, land grabs, and systemic efforts by the Israeli occupation to dismantle the means of survival for Palestinian communities. Destroying a national seed bank is an act of erasure, intended to sever the generational ties between farmers and their land.
We call on all international partners, human rights defenders, and solidarity movements to speak out forcefully against this crime.
We urge immediate international intervention to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its repeated violations of agricultural, environmental, and human rights.
