Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in areas of Gaza that remain under its control since the ceasefire it agreed with Hamas, which began on October 10, according to satellite images reviewed by the BBC Verify team.

New photos—the latest of which was taken on November 8—show how entire neighborhoods controlled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been razed in less than a month, apparently through demolitions.

Now, the actual number of buildings destroyed may be much higher, because some areas could not be captured by satellites.

Experts point out that the demolitions could violate some points of the ceasefire agreement that was backed by the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.

An IDF spokesman told the BBC that these procedures comply with all the conditions of the ceasefire.

The 20 points laid out by US President Donald Trump, on which the ceasefire is based, state that “all military operations, including airstrikes and the use of artillery, will be suspended.”

Since then, Trump himself has stated that “this war is over.”

But the BBC was able to determine by analyzing satellite images that the destruction of buildings by the IDF continues on a large scale.

A change detection algorithm was used when analyzing radar images taken before and after the start of the ceasefire to highlight different areas.

This gave an idea of ??the extent of the destruction; visibly destroyed buildings were then counted manually.

We examined destroyed buildings behind the Yellow Line—a boundary that runs between northern, southern, and eastern Gaza.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel agreed to withdraw its forces to that boundary, marked by a yellow line on maps published by the IDF.

Houses,Destroyed orchards and gardens

Many of the affected buildings did not appear to have suffered any damage before their demolition, for example, in eastern Khan Younis, around Abasan al-Kabira.

It is difficult to be conclusive from a satellite image, but those buildings had no obvious structural damage or telltale signs such as nearby debris or changes in their shape. They were houses with gardens, trees, and a small vegetable patch.

A comparison between satellite images of this area taken at the start of the war in October 2023 with images taken near the start of the ceasefire shows little change in many buildings.

Lana Khalil used to live in Abasan al-Kabira before being displaced near al-Mawasi.

She describes her home as a kind of “paradise” filled with “farms and vegetables.”

Now, like many other parts of Gaza, the area has been reduced to rubble.

“The Israeli army has left us with nothing. They’ve demolished everything,” says Lana.

She adds that former residents can hear the noise of the demolitions from “the tents where we are in al-Mawasi.”

“Our hearts are broken,” she laments.

In another area, near al-Bayuk, east of the city of Rafah, satellite images tell a similar story.

Numerous buildings that appeared undamaged before the ceasefire are now destroyed.

Aerial images of an explosion that were released in early November show a plume of dust rising from the ruins of the neighborhood.

Destruction also continues in Gaza City, in the neighborhood of Shejaiya, as well as near the Indonesian hospital on the edge of the Jabalia refugee camp.

Eitan Shamir, former head of the National Security Doctrine Department at Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, suggests that the IDF's actions do not violate the points agreed upon in the ceasefire, noting that these do not apply to areas in the Gaza Strip behind the Yellow Line.

Verified videos show controlled demolitions and bulldozers destroying buildings after the ceasefire was signed.

These buildings have been geolocated and are located behind the Yellow Line.

The demolitions are “a violation of the ceasefire”

The IDF has defended its actions, with a spokesperson saying: “According to the terms of the ceasefire, all terror infrastructure, including tunnels, must be dismantled in Gaza. Israel is acting in response to threats, violations, and terror infrastructure.”

On October 18, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz,He wrote on his X account: “Demilitarizing Gaza by destroying terrorist tunnels and terrorist infrastructure was a clear Israeli security policy.”

Point 13 of Trump’s peace plan published by the White House—the closest thing to an official publication on what was agreed in the ceasefire—states that “all offensive military or terrorist infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons production, will be destroyed and not rebuilt.”

They also indicate that the process of demilitarizing Gaza will be done “under the supervision of independent monitors.”

“This is definitely a violation of the ceasefire,” HA Hellyer, a Middle East policy expert at the United Services Institute, a British think tank, tells the BBC.

“But Washington doesn’t want to acknowledge it as such, insisting that the ceasefire must be maintained, even though that’s not happening.”

But Shamir denies that the IDF is breaking the ceasefire. fire.

He explains to the BBC that, according to his sources in the IDF, his view is as follows: “Hamas is allowed to do whatever it wants in the territory it controls, and Israel is allowed to do whatever it wants in the territory they control.”

According to his sources, the IDF considers it unlikely that Hamas will comply with the second phase of the agreement.

“Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the area for the continuation of fighting, so as not to leave them any option to ambush our soldiers.”

He also states that Hamas frequently attempts to infiltrate beyond the Yellow Line and that there are still long stretches of tunnel to be neutralized.

Some analysts, such as Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University in the US, point out that Israel may be violating the laws of war, which prohibit the destruction of civilian property by an occupying power.

Haque indicates that the exceptions to this The rule states that demolitions can only arise “from military operations, i.e., from combat or direct preparations for combat,” and argues that during a ceasefire, “it is not plausible that such significant destruction of civilian property has become absolutely necessary due to military operations.” Hugh Lovatt, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, indicates that, ultimately, the demolitions could jeopardize the peace plan. “The problem of demolitions will worsen the longer Israel remains in the area beyond the Yellow Line,” he notes. “Ultimately, the perception that Israel is delaying its withdrawal and seeking to establish new faits accomplis on the ground, as it has already done in the West Bank,"It will become an increasing threat to maintaining the ceasefire," it concludes.