Despite the ceasefire with Hamas which took effect over two months ago, "the destruction has continued" in Gaza, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing satellite imagery from Planet Labs, the liberal U.S. daily reported that Israel has demolished more than 2,500 buildings across the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began.
According to the report, Israeli officials assert that these demolitions are related to the ongoing effort to dismantle Hamas’ extensive tunnel network and to detonate booby-trapped buildings. The newspaper emphasized that while most of the destruction occurred within the yellow line — areas under IDF control, “dozens of buildings have been destroyed beyond the yellow like in areas effectively under Hamas control, where the Israeli military had agreed to halt its operations.”
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Planet Labs satellite images of the destruction in Gaza published in the New York Times
(Photo: Planet Labs)
Satellite images published by the newspaper show a cluster of buildings in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood—inside the yellow line—which the Times claims were “reduced to wasteland” during the ceasefire period. It also noted that “scores of buildings were destroyed beyond the yellow line, in some cases as far as 900 feet over.”
The report said that entire blocks of buildings, agricultural land and greenhouses have been leveled within the yellow line. A political analyst based in Gaza, Mohammed al-Astal, told the NYT that “Israel is wiping entire areas off the map. The Israeli military is destroying everything in front of it—homes, schools, factories and streets,” adding: “There is no security justification for what it's doing.”
The Times also quoted multiple residents of Gaza who accused Israel of indiscriminately flattening neighborhoods and expressed fears that many more buildings would be demolished as part of the effort to eradicate Hamas’ underground tunnel system.
Niveen Nofal, a 35-year-old resident of Shejaiya, said that “our hopes and dreams have been turned into mounds of rubble.” Another resident, Ashraf Nasr, 32, commented: “Our memories have been erased, but Hamas gave Israel the pretext to carry out this disaster. It militarized civilian spaces.”
Attacks in western Gaza City last week
According to the Times, classified IDF intelligence maps—viewed with the army’s approval—reveal an extensive tunnel network in the Shejaiya area, along with many booby-trapped buildings and streets. An official Israeli military source told the paper that Israel does not demolish buildings without cause, but some structures have collapsed as a result of tunnel explosions beneath them.
Some of the tunnels are located near the yellow line, which could cause buildings beyond it to collapse during demolitions. The source added that buildings beyond the yellow line were targeted without ground forces crossing into Hamas-held territory, and that the Israeli Air Force strikes only structures that pose a threat to troops on the ground.