Israel destroys dozens of buildings in Gaza City while the new offensive is intensifying

Israeli strikes and demolitions have destroyed dozens of buildings in the areas of Gaza City, show it satellite images, such as Israeli defense forces (FDI) said that its offensive had established more than 40% control of the city.

The new images examined by the BBC Verify show that intensive bombing and controlled explosions have leveled several districts in the past four weeks.

Rows of tents – which arose above the city to house the Palestinians moved by the Israeli military campaign – also disappeared in the last month, according to the images.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to seize the whole band and launch an incursion in the city of Gaza after indirect discussions with Hamas on a cease-fire and release contract in July.

UN humanitarian officials warned that the impact of an offensive in its own right would be “beyond the catastrophic”. The strikes have intensified in the areas of Gaza City in recent weeks and dozens of Palestinians have been killed in attacks this week only according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas and the Civil Defense Agency.

Satellite images show that significant damage has already taken place in the Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun and Tuffah of Gaza City districts in recent weeks. The photos show that dozens of buildings in the city have been leveled between August and September.

In a press release to the verification of the BBC, the FDIs said that it “localized and destroyed the integrated terrorist infrastructure, among other things, in the inside buildings”.

In Sheikh Radwan – a district located about three kilometers from downtown Gaza – a number of buildings have been wiped. The BBC verifies the previously geoloked images of the strikes made by the FDI to the region on August 29.

The images clearly show the track brands left by Israeli armored vehicles, many of which cross sections in the district where buildings and trees were in the past.

The BBC also verifies geolocated images of an explosion which leveled dozens of high -rise buildings as part of a demolition in the adjacent region of Jabalia.

The images, which appeared for the first time online on August 31, reflect similar demolitions made by Israeli forces in the south of Gaza. Thousands of buildings in areas such as Rafah and Khan Younis have been demolished by controlled explosions and demolition entrepreneurs in the region, a BBC verification survey revealed last month.

In the images of the Zeitoun district of Gaza City show what seems to be four clusters of armored vehicles of FDI. In a period of 24 hours between September 1 and 2, dozens of buildings that had held in an area between the vehicles were demolished.

On September 4, armored vehicles had evolved, the images examined by the verification of the BBC showed, with other damage to the buildings of the region.

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

According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting returned to northern Gaza earlier this year after the Israeli army opened a corridor in the south of the band during the short-term ceasefire agreement.

Buildings of great height that had surrounded the tents were also destroyed, while signs of activity in the streets have also disappeared. Fresh track brands left by IDF vehicles passing through areas where buildings were also visible.

Likewise, in the Tuffah district – where Israeli strikes killed at least eight people on Thursday, according to the Civil Defense Agency led by Hamas – other buildings were leveled.

On August 1, FDI armored vehicles were visible in the region. On September 1, the buildings near the place where vehicles were active had been destroyed, including a school.

The images also seem to show new tracks left by armored vehicles crossing a cemetery, where more than 3,000 soldiers killed fighting for the British Empire during the Second World War are buried. The cemetery has already been strongly damaged by bombing earlier in the conflict, a crater left by an also visible previous strike.

A TSAhal spokesperson told BBC Verification, without providing evidence, that: “In some cases, whole districts of the Gaza Strip are converted into combat complexes that are used for ambushes, command centers and control centers and arms warehouses, combat tunnels, observation posts, streets.”

Last month, Hamas said that it had accepted a plan for regional mediators in Qatar and Egypt, which would see 10 living hostages and the 18 dead hostages released during a 60 -day truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Israel did not respond to the plan but insists that all hostages must be published in one go.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7 attack led by Hamas, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

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

Additional report by Paul Brown and Merlyn Thomas.