Israel’s Intensive Attacks Damage One-Third of Buildings in Northern Gaza

A satellite image of northern Gaza City, which was destroyed by Israel’s ground operation, taken on the 7th (local time)./Maxar Technologies

It has been revealed that one-third of the buildings in the northern Gaza Strip, a stronghold of the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, were damaged by concentrated attacks by Israel.

On the 7th (local time), the New York Times (NYT) reported this after analyzing satellite images of the Gaza Strip, stating that thousands of buildings in the northern Gaza Strip were damaged just last week.

According to an analysis by Jaimon Van Drehle, an associate professor at Oregon State University, and Cory Scher, a doctoral student at the City University of New York Graduate Center, it is estimated that 13-18% of all buildings in the Gaza Strip, or 38,000 to 44,000 buildings, were damaged from the 7th to the 29th of last month.

In particular, 29.7-33.5% of all buildings in the northern Gaza Strip, which includes Gaza City, were destroyed.

Israel claimed that it had hit more than 14,000 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war and destroyed over 100 entrances to underground tunnels.

The Israeli military is employing a tactic of dividing the Gaza Strip into north and south, surrounding the heart of Gaza City where the Hamas command and infrastructure are concentrated, and seizing military facilities and equipment, including underground tunnels, and identifying and eliminating key personnel.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, also stated that day that the Israeli military is in the heart of Gaza City, saying, “We are tightening the noose around Gaza, targeting terrorist infrastructure and bunkers.”