Ecocide: Israel and America’s War on the Environment in the Middle East

New Eastern Outlook

The ongoing war in the Middle East has seen America and Israel indulge not just in gross violations of human rights but also in wanton violations of the rights of Mother Nature.

In the annals of international law, an area that is rapidly gaining traction among countries is environmental law. Environmental law states that conservation and preservation of nature are essential not only from the point of view of protecting the planet, but also as a moral duty to bequeath the environment to our successive generations in the same pristine nature as we inherited it. Environmental law, in this context, is based on the principle of ecocentric jurisprudence, which marks a step away from the anthropocentric principle of the earlier forms of ecosystem jurisprudence. Ecocentric jurisprudence is based on the assumption that humans do not constitute the core of the universe and that other organisms have an equal right to exist and thrive.

In this context, the expressions of environmental law are found in several conventions, which are binding on countries. Some important environmental conventions in this regard include the Vienna Convention, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), among others.

However, an important element of environmental law that is gaining increasing significance in recent years is the idea of ecocide. A term coined by the Yale University academic Arthur W. Galston in the context of the devastating actions of Agent Orange in Vietnam, “ecocide” refers to individuals, groups, communities, or nations indulging in egregious activities, both during peacetime and wartime, that end up doing irreparable damage to the environment.

Violation of Mother Earth in the Ongoing War

The ongoing war in the Middle East has seen one of the biggest standalone episodes of the release of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. According to a study undertaken by the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana, the war in the Middle East has contributed to the release of a gargantuan 5,055,016 tCO₂e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). Of these, U.S. bombers and fighter jets that undertook raids on Iran released more than 500,000 tCO₂e. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of a medium-sized fossil fuel-dependent economy like Kuwait.

What is all the more concerning is the fact that missiles, drones, and bombs the American and Israeli Air Forces used on Iranian civilians contributed not just to their deaths but also ended up damaging the environment, potentially irreparably. According to the Iranian Red Crescent humanitarian organization, the damage done to over 20,000 buildings in the conflict led to the release of 2.4 million tCO₂e.

To make matters worse, Israeli airstrikes on oil depots contributed to an extremely rare, yet dangerous, environmental phenomenon called “black rain”; this occurred due to the contamination of the clouds due to the burning oil. Estimates state that 2.5-5.9 million barrels of oil were set ablaze in the Israeli strikes, leaving Tehran’s residents with sore throats, asphyxiation, and other chronic health issues. This clearly is a case of transboundary crime that defies borders.

The arc of this environmental violation then expanded to Lebanon. In early 2026, the Israeli armed forces ended up spraying Glyphosate, a potent herbicide that ended up damaging the farmlands of Lebanese citizens. The World Health Organization (WHO) argues that the bioaccumulation of this herbicide in the food chain of the country may lead to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, unleashing the possibility of a mammoth public health disaster.

In addition to this, a 2026 report by Oxfam has revealed how Israel has undertaken water warfare—in this form of ecocide, Israel is weaponizing water as a tool of war. This method involves systematically destroying water infrastructure, including networks and water treatment plants, in order to deprive civilians of a precious resource like water. A new report has revealed that over 10 water plants in South Lebanon have been leveled by Israel. Apart from weaponizing water, Israel also indulged in the flattening of entire neighborhoods, with reports estimating that the ongoing war in the Middle East has seen the generation of over 100 million tonnes of debris. What makes the reconstruction efforts all the more daunting isn’t just the lack of financial resources but also the presence of toxic entities like asbestos, heavy metals, and unexploded ordnance.

This is a part of a cold and calculated attempt by Israel to indulge in ‘terraforming warfare’ designed to sustain its buffer zone in the country by rendering the natural ecosystems of the region incapable of sustaining life.

It is high time the Global South galvanizes its governments, civil society organizations, and citizens in demanding accountability from the hegemonic actors not just for the war crimes but also for crimes against Mother Nature.

Pranay Kumar Shome, a research analyst who is a PhD candidate at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India