On demolition policy – Avi Scharf and Nir Hasson in Haaretz:
‘The IDF continues to engage in systematic demolitions of buildings in areas under its control in the Gaza Strip even after the cease-fire went into effect, recent satellite images show.
Produced by Planet Labs, the images show eastern Gaza City and the Shujaiyeh neighborhood as they were last week and how they appeared several days after the cease-fire went into effect in October.
The comparison shows that the IDF flattened hundreds of buildings in this area alone. Some had been damaged during the war and were later razed using heavy equipment. Others appear to be pretty much untouched.’
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‘The U.K. based Forensic Architecture group released its own analysis of satellite photos of Gaza last week. The group says that after the cease-fire went into effect, Israel erected 13 new outposts along the Yellow Line, mainly in northern Gaza and east of Khan Yunis.
Forensic Architecture said the army has 48 outposts along the Yellow Line, linked by roads to Israeli territory, and has built a new road in eastern Khan Yunis. It said that the army had razed more buildings in the Khan Yunis area and had cleared rubble in the Rafah area.’
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‘The IDF's demolition policy changed over the course of the war. Initially, the destruction was a side effect of operations. Following the invasion of Rafah in May 2024, the IDF began hiring civilian contractors to systematically raze entire neighborhoods all over Gaza.
Estimates are that due to this policy, nearly 100 percent of the buildings in Rafah, Abasan al-Kabira, Khirbet Khizeh, Jabalya and other areas. In addition, over the course of the war, 80 percent of greenhouses were demolished, 87 percent of agricultural areas and 80 percent of roads. Experts estimated that the destruction has created 61 million tons of rubble.
The IDF had not responded to requests for comment by press time.’
Read the article here.
What is the endgame?
Occupation of half of more of Gaza? The never-ending-war prolonging? Making Gaza in inhabitable as possible in the hope that the Gazans will engage inself-ethnic-cleansing?