Israeli strikes and demolitions have destroyed dozens of buildings in areas of Gaza City, satellite images show, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its offensive has established control over 40% of the city.
The new images reviewed by BBC Verify show that intensive bombardments and controlled explosions have levelled several neighbourhoods over the past four weeks.
Rows of tents – which have sprung up over the city to shelter Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military campaign – have also disappeared over the past month, the images show.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to seize all of the strip and launch an incursion into Gaza City after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down in July.
UN humanitarian officials have warned that the impact of a full-blown offensive would be “beyond catastrophic”. Strikes have intensified in areas of Gaza City in recent weeks and dozens of Palestinians have been killed in attacks this week alone according to the Hamas-run health ministry and civil defence agency.
In a statement to BBC Verify, the IDF said it was “locating and destroying terror infrastructures embedded, among other things, inside buildings”.
In Sheikh Radwan – a neighbourhood located about three kilometres from Gaza City centre – a number of buildings have been wiped away. BBC Verify previously geolocated footage of strikes carried out by the IDF to the area on 29 August.
The images clearly show track marks left by Israeli armoured vehicles, many of which pass through sections of the neighbourhood where buildings and trees once stood.
BBC Verify also geolocated footage of an explosion which levelled dozens of high-rise buildings as part of a demolition in the adjacent Jabalia area.
According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting had returned to northern Gaza earlier this year after the Israeli military opened a corridor from the south of the strip during the short-lived ceasefire agreement.
High-rise buildings which had surrounded the tents have also been destroyed, while signs of activity on the streets have also disappeared. Fresh track marks left by IDF vehicles passing through areas where buildings once stood are also visible.
