GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Activists on social media platforms circulated a video documenting a large-scale demolition carried out by the Israeli occupation army in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, as part of ongoing destruction targeting residential neighborhoods despite the ceasefire agreement being in effect.
The video was published by Palestinian journalist Younis Al-Tirawi, who specializes in monitoring Israeli soldiers’ social media accounts and documenting their violations. Commenting on the footage, he wrote, “Gaza on Christmas Eve; the Israeli army is blowing up the homes of displaced Palestinian families today. We remind that the ceasefire has been in force for more than two months.”
According to Al Jazeera Network’s digital verification team, the video’s location was precisely identified, showing that the demolition took place in the Al-Zuhur neighborhood north of Rafah city, at the coordinates (31°18’9.14″N 34°15’58.27″E). The verification revealed that the video was first published shortly after midnight Wednesday, although the footage itself does not definitively establish the exact timing of the explosion.
However, a review of satellite images of the site between December 13 and 24 showed a heavy presence of Israeli military vehicles carrying out extensive bulldozing and demolition operations in the area. The bulldozing traces visible in the satellite imagery matched the landmarks shown in the explosion footage, strengthening the likelihood that the operation occurred within the past 24 hours.
This is further supported by field reports from journalists in Gaza who confirmed hearing massive explosions caused by demolition operations north of Rafah at around 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday night, coinciding with similar operations in the city of Khan Yunis and east of Gaza City.
In the same context, an Israeli journalist broadcast new video footage showing the massive destruction left by systematic demolition and bombardment operations in northern Gaza, particularly in the Tel al-Za’tar neighborhood and the Jabalia refugee camp.
The footage documented a gathering of Israeli soldiers accompanied by a media delegation visiting the area, where the Israeli reporter said, “We are in the Jabalia neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. You can see the destruction behind me, almost everything here is completely destroyed. This is what a neighborhood looks like just seven kilometers from the city of Sderot; the hospital is the only building still standing.”
A digital geographic verification of the images concluded that the journalists and soldiers were positioned inside a newly established military outpost set up by the Israeli army on the Tel Al-Za’tar hill, overlooking the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza.
The analysis showed that the footage documents the Indonesian Hospital and what remains of Al-Awda Hospital as nearly the only landmarks still standing amid surroundings that have been entirely leveled by months of intensive demolition operations. The extensive clearing and destruction also revealed the boundaries of the city of Beit Lahia, at the far north of the Strip, in a direct visual scene that had not been possible before the war due to the dense urban development that once separated the areas.
The Israeli occupation army continues to destroy large swathes of residential neighborhoods in Gaza City, particularly in Al-Shuja’iya and Al-Tuffah, alongside ongoing demolition operations in eastern Jabalia in the north of the Strip, and in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south, despite the ceasefire agreement announced under the plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.
