Gaza Strip: The Israeli military allegedly demolished over 2,500 buildings in Gaza since the US-brokered ceasefire agreement was signed between Israel and Hamas in October 2025, according to an investigation by the New York Times (NYT).
The ceasefire agreement gave Palestinians a small kernel of hope to rebuild what was destroyed during the past two years of devastation in Gaza. That was, however, short lived.
According to an NYT analysis using satellite imagery from Planet Labs, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation is destroying tunnels and homes with traps, even after the ceasefire, a clear violation of the agreement.
The IDF had withdrawn its forces from the agreed-upon boundary inside Gaza, as per the ceasefire agreement, which is represented by a yellow line on maps published by Israel. It shows Israel in control of around half of the territory of the besieged enclave.
The analysis reported that most demolitions occurred in the Israeli-controlled areas since the start of the ceasefire. However, several buildings have been destroyed beyond the yellow line in areas reportedly under Hamas control, where the Israeli military had agreed to end its operations.
In the satellite images (left) taken days after the truce, clusters of intact buildings can be spotted in the Shejaiya neighbourhood near the yellow line. Pictures (right) of the same area months later in December 2025, show that it has been reduced to ruins. The damage went further past the marked line. In some instances, the destruction extended up to 900 feet beyond the boundary.
81 per cent of buildings damaged in Gaza Strip
Multiple buildings are believed to have already been severely damaged during the two years of Israeli bombardment. According to a United Nations’ satellite imagery analysis, as of October 11 2025, “approximately 81 per cent of all structures in the Gaza Strip are damaged.”
“Among the damaged structures, UNOSAT identified 123,464 destroyed structures, 17,116 severely damaged structures, 33,857 moderately damaged structures, and 23,836 possibly damaged structures for a total of 198,273 affected structures.”
When compared to July 2025’s assessment, there was a four per cent increase in total affected structures in October 2025, and an 18 per cent increase in destroyed structures since then, marking a worsening damage, the UN report said.
The Palestinians who lived in those areas were likely displaced by consecutive evacuation orders.
Israeli officials have termed these massive demolitions as their efforts to “demilitarise” Gaza.
While its recent strikes killed 13, including one child, the IDF maintained that it struck Hamas infrastructure and fighters in southern and northern Gaza in response to a failed projectile launched by militants from the Gaza city area. Israel has repeatedly claimed that their military has destroyed underground tunnels that were once used by the militant groups.
Palestinians have long argued against Israel’s narrative of destroying Hamas bases, saying Israel has been flattening entire neighbourhoods with no concern for those who lived or owned property there.
During the intensified Israeli military action in response to the October 7 attack, Israeli officials had said that the militant tunnel networks spanned hundreds of miles, with several entrances.
Farmlands, greenhouses also razed
The sheer scale of the destruction is clear from the satellite images. In eastern Gaza, the images recorded entire blocks erased in areas under Israeli control since the ceasefire, with farmlands and greenhouses destroyed.
“Israel is wiping entire areas off the map,” Mohammed al-Astal, a political analyst based in Gaza, told NYT. “The Israeli military is destroying everything in front of it – homes, schools, factories and streets. There’s no security justification for what it’s doing,” he said.
An Israeli official, speaking to the NYT on condition of anonymity, said that Israeli ground forces had not crossed the line to carry out their demolitions. He also said that Israel was reportedly not destroying buildings indiscriminately; some collapsed when soldiers set off explosives in the tunnels below them.
According to the Israeli soldier, the Air Force struck down threats to the soldiers, which were at times close to the yellow line. Detonating such tunnels then causes the building on either side of the line to collapse, he said.
This, however, is contested as there have been recorded violations of IDF soldiers crossing the yellow line since the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz had said in November in a social media post that the military will continue its demolitions “until the last tunnel.”
“If there are no tunnels, there is no Hamas,” he wrote.
