BEFORE AFTER. Towns and neighborhoods razed, refugee camps targeted… Visualize the extent of the destruction in the Gaza Strip

Strikes by the Israeli army, mainly concentrated on the north of the Palestinian enclave before the truce, have intensified in recent days in the South, pushing thousands of civilians to flee again.

Since the resumption of fighting on December 1, after a week of truce, the Israeli army has intensified its offensive against Hamas in the south of the Gaza Strip. The IDF notably announced on Tuesday, December 5, that it would carry out ground fighting in the town of Khan Younes, the second most populous town in the Palestinian enclave. The day before, Israeli troops, dozens of tanks and bulldozers had positioned themselves at the entrance to this city, which has now become the epicenter of the war. Thousands of civilians who had been pushed to reach this area at the start of the conflict are now forced to flee again, trapped near Rafah, in an increasingly restricted area, close to the Egyptian border.

The entire territory of the Gaza Strip is now affected. To visualize the extent of the damage, franceinfo collected a set of satellite images of the Palestinian enclave produced by the American company Planet Labs. These photographs were taken between Saturday December 2 and Monday December 4.

In Gaza, the neighborhoods of Rimal and Atatra unrecognizable

In Gaza City (northern Gaza Strip), many buildings in the Rimal neighborhood, located along the coast and close to the city center, were razed by strikes by Israeli forces. They claimed to target the centers from which Hamas operates. With its many banks, shopping centers and restaurants, the Rimal neighborhood was one of the most prosperous in Gaza. It is also here that there are various command sites for the Islamist movement in power in the Palestinian enclave.

But this landscape of desolation does not stop at the borders of Gaza City. Already targeted by a deluge of fire after three weeks of bombing in 2014, the town of Beit Lahia, located less than two kilometers from the border with Israel, was one of the first areas targeted by the IDF after the attacks of October 7 . The Israeli army claimed that this territory was a Hamas hideout. Atatra, one of its districts, suffered significant destruction after repeated strikes. Bulldozers appear to have cleared roads through the rubble and the Israeli army has cleared the ground and established defensive positions in surrounding fields.

The town of Beit Hanoun completely destroyed at the start of the offensive

Located in the northeast of Gaza, also close to the border with Israel, the town of Beit Hanoun, which had 35,000 inhabitants before the war, was disfigured by Israeli bombings. Like Beit Lahia, it was one of the IDF’s first targets following the terrorist attacks of October 7.

Al-Shati and Jabaliya refugee camps targeted by strikes

In the northwest of Gaza City is the Al-Shati refugee camp, better known as “Beach Camp”. This camp, the third largest of the eight established in the Gaza Strip, hosted more than 90,000 people, according to the latest estimates from the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) dating from July. It was largely razed by Israeli forces. It was one of the most overcrowded in the territory. According to the IDF, the Al-Shati neighborhood was one of Hamas’ main strongholds. She also claims that the command and control systems of the Islamist movement in the area were completely dismantled during the raids, reports The Times of Israel media.

Same observation a little further east, where the Jabaliya refugee camp was targeted on October 31 and November 1 by Israeli strikes. This attack, which aimed “to eliminate a Hamas leader” according to the IDF, left more than 50 dead and dozens injured. It is the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, in which 116,000 people lived.

The entire enclave is now affected by strikes

Although the North is the area most affected by the destruction, the South has also experienced numerous strikes. In the Al-Mughraqa district, in the heart of the Palestinian enclave, the buildings are nothing more than rubble. Al-Azhar University was massively bombed and completely destroyed on November 1.

An Israeli strike targeting the house of a Hamas member also hit the Bureij refugee camp on December 1.