GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Newly released satellite images have revealed extensive and systematic demolition operations carried out by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in eastern Gaza City and the Shujaiya neighborhood after the ceasefire came into effect on October 11.
Imagery captured by a satellite operated by Planet Labs, and compared with images taken just days after the ceasefire began, shows that buildings damaged during the war were later completely leveled using Israeli military engineering equipment.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the demolition operations extended across areas estimated at hundreds of dunums east of what is known as the “Yellow Line,” the withdrawal line where Israeli forces redeployed following the ceasefire.
The report noted that the demolitions coincided with the emergence of five new clusters of displacement camps for Palestinian civilians in recent weeks. Each cluster contains dozens to hundreds of tents. Two were established near the Netzarim corridor south of Gaza City, while three others appeared north of the city and close to the Mediterranean coast, in areas that remain under Hamas control.
Before the genocide, around one million Palestinians lived in areas that have since fallen under Israeli military control, particularly in eastern Gaza City, Khan Yunis, and Rafah. These residents are not expected to return to their homes in the foreseeable future, forcing them to remain in tents or temporary shelters alongside hundreds of thousands of displaced people whose homes were completely destroyed.
In a related finding, an analysis by the UK-based research group Forensic Architecture, based on satellite imagery, showed that the IOF established 13 new military sites along the Yellow Line after the ceasefire, most of them in northern Gaza and east of Khan Yunis.
The organization said the total number of Israeli military sites built along this line has reached 48 inside the Gaza Strip. The IOF has also expanded a network of roads linking these sites to each other and to areas inside Israel, including the construction of a new road in the Khan Yunis area. The analysis further documented expanded demolition operations in Khan Yunis and the removal of massive amounts of rubble in Rafah.
Earlier, the United Nations Satellite Center reported that Israel destroyed approximately 81 percent of all buildings and infrastructure in Gaza during the genocide, either fully or partially. According to UN data, 123,464 buildings were completely destroyed, 12,116 sustained severe damage, and 33,857 suffered partial damage.
The UN analysis added that rainfall over Gaza in recent weeks caused additional collapses of buildings already weakened by bombardment, resulting in further civilian casualties.
Haaretz reported that Israel’s demolition policy underwent a notable shift during the genocide. Whereas destruction was initially carried out mainly through airstrikes and combat operations, following the occupation of Rafah in May 2024 the IOF began systematically razing entire neighborhoods using civilian contracting companies.
According to estimates cited by the newspaper, this policy led to the destruction of nearly 100 percent of buildings in Rafah, Abasan, Khuza’a, Jabalia, and other areas. The IOF also destroyed about 80 percent of agricultural greenhouses, 87 percent of farmland, and 80 percent of roads across the Gaza Strip.
Experts estimate that the scale of destruction has left approximately 61 million tons of rubble in Gaza, deepening the humanitarian catastrophe and posing unprecedented challenges to any future reconstruction efforts.
Earlier this month, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine Francesca Albanese said that the cost of rebuilding Gaza should be borne by Israel, alongside the US, Germany, Italy, and Britain.
Albanese said the situation in Palestine cannot be understood without examining the region’s colonial past, adding that many Israeli practices represent an extension of the British colonial legacy in Palestine.
She stressed that the genocide launched by Israel on October 7, 2023, with US support and lasting two years, has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, wounded over 171,000 others, most of them women and children, and devastated around 90 percent of civilian infrastructure, with preliminary reconstruction costs estimated at $70 billion.
