Shocking before and after aerial pictures show the full scale of the destruction of the Gaza Strip by deadly Israeli airstrikes.
Residential buildings, markets and mosques have been destroyed in retaliation for the attack launched by Hamas militants on Israel’s territories on 7 October.
Images of the enclave earlier this year offer a striking contrast to those taken in recent days, showing the extent of the damage amid the terror and devastation that have ripped across the region.
Satellite view shows Al-Karama in the Gaza Strip on 10 May, offering a striking contrast to those taken in recent days— (via REUTERS)
The once-standing rows of buildings and homes can be seen to have mostly been reduced to charred remains and piles of grey ash.
In the pictures released by Maxar, the town of Beit Hanoun in the enclave’s northeast corner is seen to have been levelled by airstrikes, with its hospital forced to stop operations this week due to the intense bombardment of the town.
Satellite view shows damaged areas in the Palestinian city of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on 21 October, mostly reduced to charred remains and piles of grey ash— (via REUTERS)
The al-Karama neighbourhood was also pounded and its hospital now similarly out of service due to airstrikes.
More than half of Gaza’s primary health care facilities and roughly a third of its hospitals have stopped functioning, the World Health Organization said, amid a desperate shortage of fuel after Israel sealed off the territory, with fears fuel could entirely run out on Thursday.
Satellite view shows the Palestinian city of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on 1 May— (via REUTERS)
Meanwhile, the before and after images of Atatra in northwest Gaza show nearly an entire neighborhood reduced to rubble.
After two weeks of devastating air raids, Israeli troops and tanks launched a brief ground raid into northern Gaza overnight into Thursday, the military said, striking several militant targets in order to "prepare the battlefield" ahead of a widely expected ground invasion.
Satellite view shows damaged areas in Atatra in the northern Gaza Strip on 21 October— (via REUTERS)
The raid came after the UN warned it is on the verge of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip, forcing it to sharply curtail relief efforts in the territory, which has also been under a complete siege since Hamas' bloody rampage across southern Israel ignited the war earlier this month.
The rising death tolls in Gaza are unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even greater loss of life could come if Israel launches an expected ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and survived four previous wars with Israel.
Satellite view shows Atatra in the northern Gaza Strip on 10 May— (via REUTERS)
Israeli retaliatory strikes have so far killed more than 6,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas massacre.
