2024-01-30 22:44:49
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Refugee camps in Gaza have also not been free from attacks.
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- Authors, Daniele Palumbo, Paul Cusiac and Erwan Rivault
- Role, BBC Verify and BBC Arabic
-
1 hour
More than half of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its retaliation for the Hamas attacks on October 7, new analysis seen by the BBC reveals.
Detailed before and after images also show how the bombing of southern Gaza has intensified in recent weeks, with the city of Khan Younis bearing the brunt of Israel’s military action.
Israel has repeatedly told Gazans to move south for their own safety.
Across Gaza, residential areas have been left in ruins, previously busy shopping streets reduced to rubble, universities destroyed and farmland turned over, and tent cities have sprung up on the southern border to house many thousands. of people who have been left homeless.
Around 1.7 million people – more than 80% of Gaza’s population – are displaced, and almost half are crammed into the southern end of the strip, according to the United Nations.
Further analysis, carried out by BBC Verify, reveals the scale of destruction to farmland, identifying multiple areas of extensive damage.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said they are attacking both Hamas fighters and “terrorist infrastructure” when questioned about the extent of the damage.
Now, analysis of satellite data obtained by the BBC shows the true extent of the destruction.
Analysis suggests that between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings across the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed. That’s between 50% and 61% of all buildings in Gaza.
The analysis, conducted by Corey Scher of the City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University, compares images to reveal sudden changes in the height or structure of buildings that indicate damage.
Devastation moves south
The southern city of Khan Yunis has been especially hard hit in recent weeks, with more than 38,000 (or more than 46%) of buildings destroyed or damaged, according to the analysis.
In the last 15 days alone, more than 1,500 buildings have been destroyed or damaged there.
The Torre al Farra, a 16-story residential block in the city center, the tallest building in the area, was demolished on January 9, as can be seen in before and after images of the city skyline.
Much of the neighborhood in which it is located has been devastated by Israeli attacks since late December.
“Israeli forces attacked residential compounds, especially in the central Khan Younis area,” said Rawan Qaddah, a 20-year-old resident, who has been displaced and lost contact with her family.
He mentioned schools among the many buildings that were damaged. Some were now being used to temporarily house displaced people.
You can clearly see the level of damage from street level. Once bustling main streets have been abandoned or destroyed.
These images show the front of the Sanabel Shawarma restaurant before Israel’s invasion and what the same intersection looked like in a composite image from January, after heavy bombing of the area.
Extensive damage throughout Gaza
The IDF has repeatedly justified its actions by pointing out that Hamas is deliberately embedding itself in civilian areas and explained that the destruction of buildings occurred in the context of attacks on fighters.
But there are questions about the destruction of buildings that were apparently firmly under IDF control.
One example was Israa University in northern Gaza, which was initially severely damaged shortly before being completely blown up in what appeared to be a massive, controlled explosion.
The video was widely shared on social media and the IDF says the approval process for the explosion is now being investigated.
Many of Gaza’s historic sites have suffered extensive damage, including the al Omari mosque originally built in the 7th century.
Scher, one of the academics who worked on assessing the damage in Gaza, said it stands out compared to other war zones he has analyzed.
“We have worked in Ukraine, we have also examined Aleppo [en Siria] and other cities, but the extent and pace of the damage is notable. “I’ve never seen so much damage appear so quickly.”
Destruction of Gaza agricultural lands
Further analysis, carried out by BBC Verify, shows that large areas of previously cultivated land across Gaza have been severely damaged.
As can be seen in the satellite image below, several parts of Gaza show the effects of Israeli raids and bombings.
Although Gaza relied heavily on imports before the start of the war, much of its food came from agriculture and food production within the strip.
Aid agencies say half of Gaza’s population now faces hunger.
The BBC Arabic service spoke to a farmer, Saeed, who fled south from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza in mid-November.
This 33-year-old man grew guava, figs, lemons, oranges, mint and basil and earned around US$6,000 from these crops each year, the only source of income for him, his father and his sister. He had tended the farm, inherited from his grandparents, for 15 years.
But days after fleeing, he says a relative told him that the farm was destroyed by the IDF, along with five surrounding houses that belonged to his relatives.
In northern and central Gaza, where most agriculture was practiced before the war, large tracts of land appear ruined.
In many places the damage corresponds to the construction of temporary Israeli defenses, earth banks to protect armored vehicles and the clearing of surrounding land.
Some farmers have lost their crops even though their land was not directly affected, the BBC understands.
Mohamed al Messaddar, a farmer from Deir al Balah in central Gaza, has only been able to go to his farm once since the start of the war.
Arriving during the truce in November, the oranges were scattered and rotting on the ground. “The orange harvest date coincided with the beginning of the war. No one would have dared to go there.”
He says he lost more than 90% of his orange crop.
Beyond lands affected by road demolition and defense construction, there have been accusations of deliberate destruction by the IDF.
In a video posted online on November 4, Colonel Yogev Bar-Shesht, deputy head of the Civil Administration, said in an interview from inside Gaza: “Whoever returns here, if he returns later, will find scorched earth. No houses , without agriculture, nothing, they have no future”.
The IDF told us it found entrances to Hamas tunnels and rocket launch sites in several agricultural areas, adding that “operational needs require these locations to be destroyed or attacked.”
“Combat and exchanges of fire can cause environmental damage.”
Aid experts fear the damage to Gaza agriculture will be long-lasting.
Previous conflicts, such as those in Syria and Ukraine, have shown that rehabilitating agricultural land can be extremely difficult.
Unexploded weapons make it dangerous for farmers to return and work.
There is also the challenge of cleaning up contaminated land and rebuilding infrastructure such as water, energy and transportation systems.
A tent city emerges
The latest pronounced change in Gaza that can be seen from the air is the proliferation of tents and other temporary structures to house displaced people in the south.
The new tent areas that sprang up between early December and mid-January near the Egyptian border covered approximately 3.5 square kilometers, equivalent to almost 500 Premier League football fields.
Satellite images, captured on December 3 and January 14, show a dramatic change: now almost all accessible, undeveloped land in an area northwest of Rafah has been converted into a shelter for displaced people.
When it launched its campaign against Hamas, Israel told Palestinians living in northern and central Gaza to move south for their own safety.
Many have ended up in Rafah and face an uncertain future.
Additional reporting by Jake Horton, Tural Ahmedzade, Benedict Garman, Lamees Altalebi and Abdelrahman Abutaleb.
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