By Nathan Morley

Farmers in Gaza face growing risks as they attempt to return to their fields, with access to agricultural land increasingly restricted, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.

The agency said the so-called Yellow Line of demarcation, controlled by the Israeli military, continues to expand into western Gaza, limiting farmers’ access to farmland and preventing them from planting new crops.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said more than 340 children have been reported killed and hundreds more injured in Gaza in the little over a year since a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced.

UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said the figures offered little comfort to families grieving the loss of children. “For families mourning the loss of their children, those terrible statistics do not equate with a ceasefire,” Pires said.

He said that in the past two weeks, despite the agreed ceasefire, five boys and two girls had been reported killed in Gaza, while at least 33 children were seriously injured in airstrikes, drone strikes and gunfire across the territory. Another two boys died from injuries sustained earlier, he said.

Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here.