Israel destroys dozens of buildings in the city of Gaza as the new offensive intensifies

Israeli strikes and destruction have destroyed dozens of buildings in Gaza, satellite images, as the Israeli defense forces show (IDF), said its offensive has established control of 40% of the city.

The new images viewed by the BBC show that intensive bombing and controlled explosions have leveled several neighborhoods in the last four weeks.

Rows of tents – who have appeared over the city to shelter the Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military campaign – have also disappeared in the last month, the images show.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced Israel’s intention to seize the entire lane and start invading Gaza after indirect conversations with Hamas to end the fire and the hostage release deal in July.

The UN humanitarian staff warned that the impact of a full offensive would be “beyond the catastrophic”. The strikes have increased in the areas of Gaza in recent weeks, and dozens of Palestinians have been killed in attacks only this week according to the Hamas Health Ministry and the Civil Protection Agency.

Satellite images show that significant damage has already occurred in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Radvan, Zeitun and Tufa in Gaza in recent weeks. The photos show that dozens of buildings in the city were leveled between August and September.

In a statement to the BBC Verify, the IDF said it “localizes and destroys the terrorist infrastructures embedded, among other things, inside the buildings.”

In Sheikh Radvan – a neighborhood located about three kilometers from the center of Gaza – a number of buildings have been deleted. BBC check earlier geoloked shots of bumps Performed by IDF to the area on August 29th.

The images clearly show markings left by Israeli armored vehicles, many of which pass through sections of the neighborhood where buildings and trees have ever stood.

The BBC also inspects geolocated explosion footage that evens out dozens of buildings with tall buildings as part of a demolition in the adjacent zone of Jabalia.

The footage that first appeared online on August 31, a mirror similar demolitions, carried out by the Israeli forces in South Gaza. Thousands of buildings in areas including Rafa and Khan ENNIS have been demolished by controlled explosions and contractors in the areaBBC investigation checked last month.

In the Gaza City neighborhood in Zeitoun, they show what IDF’s armored vehicles seem to be. For a 24-hour period between 1 and 2 September, dozens of buildings stood in an area between vehicles were demolished.

Until September 4, the armored vehicles continued, the images reviewed by the BBC show that additional damage caused to buildings in the area.

Elsewhere in Zeitoun rows tents created by displaced Palestinians have disappeared in just over a month. According to the UN, over 1.9 million Gazani – about 90% of the population – were displaced by the Israeli military campaign.

According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people, displaced by battles, returned to Northern Gaza earlier this year after the Israeli military discovered a corridor south of the strip during the short-term fire termination agreement.

Buildings with tall buildings that surrounded the tents have also been destroyed until signs of street activity have also disappeared. Fresh traces of tracks left by IDF vehicles passing through areas where buildings have ever stood.

Similarly, in the Tufa neighborhood – where the Israeli strikes killed at least eight people on Thursday, according to the Hamas Civil Protection Agency – more buildings are leveled.

On August 1, armored vehicles IDF were visible in the area. Until September 1, buildings near where vehicles were active were destroyed, including a school.

The images appear to be showing fresh songs left by armored vehicles passing through a cemetery where more than 3,000 soldiers were buried for the British Empire during World War I. The cemetery is already severely damaged by bombing early in the conflict, such as a crater left by a previous blow is also visible.

A spokesman for IDF told the BBC to check without providing evidence that: “In some cases whole neighborhoods in the Gaza strip becomes combat complexes used for ambushes, residential command and control centers and warehouses, tunnel fighting, observation pillars, launching positions, and tanning.

Last month, Hamas said he has accepted a plan from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt, who will see 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages, released during a 60-day truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detained in Israeli prisons.

Israel did not respond to the plan, but insists that all hostages should be put into one move.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas on October 7th, with 1200 people killed and another 251 was taken hostage.

At least 64,231 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry in the territory.

Additional reporting from Paul Brown and Merlin Thomas.