Gaza - animert bilde fra 5. og 8. mai - Space.com

 

 

Satellite images of Rafah illustrate Palestinians fleeing the city

News

By Monisha Ravisetti

 published 19 hours ago

Analyses of the images also reveal damaged buildings in the area and stationed Israeli tanks.

 

 

Satellite imagery of tents in Rafah, Gaza on May 5, then on May 8. (Image credit: Planet Labs PBC)

Satellite images taken earlier this month offer a spaceborne perspective of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. They include scenes such as a before-and-after sequence that illustrates Palestinian civilians fleeing Rafah, a view of damaged buildings in the region and conglomerates of Israeli hardware. 

For the past several months, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have destroyed major portions of areas in which Palestinian civilians live as a response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, an attack orchestrated by the radical militant group Hamas. As Reuters reported on May 14, Israel says Hamas killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 253 people to captivity in Gaza; the Palestinian Health Authorities say the IDF's military campaign since then has killed more than 35,000 people, also mostly civilians, and has driven 2.3 million people from their homes.

More than 1 million Palestinian refugees have been sheltering in the city of Rafah, most of whom were displaced after the bulk of northern Gaza was decimated due to Israeli air- and ground-based strikes. The IDF recently began requesting that the refugees evacuate from Rafah as well, suggesting impending military action in the area despite warnings from allies including the U.S. that a major military operation there would be devastating for the Palestinian civilian population. Some of the recent satellite images were captured after Israeli Defense Forces seized control of Gaza's Rafah border crossing ahead of the possible ground-based invasion.