Satellite Images Reveal Devastation in Southern Gaza as Israel Expands Control

High-resolution satellite images taken in February 2026 have revealed entire neighborhoods in southern Gaza reduced to ash, cemeteries turned into military outposts, and survivors crammed into sprawling tent camps stretching to the Mediterranean coast.

Palestinian journalist Muhannad Qishta expressed a longing to visit the graves of his two sisters in Khan Younis but cannot, because the Sheikh Mohammed cemetery where they rest has been erased from the map. “Even the dead are not spared. How will I feel when I go there and see only desert, no graves of my sisters to recite prayers?” Qishta said.

According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israeli forces have destroyed, in whole or in part, 94% of cemeteries in Gaza, turning sites of memory into military barracks.

Large residential areas have vanished. The Saudi neighborhood in Tal as-Sultan, a major housing project with 752 apartments, has been flattened into rubble. The Swedish Village in Rafah, once a bustling coastal community of more than 1,300 fishermen, now has only five houses left and has become an Israeli military base.

The Rafah crossing—the only lifeline connecting Gaza to the outside world—has also been destroyed. Civilian infrastructure including terminals, a VIP lounge, humanitarian aid warehouses, and administrative offices have been replaced by Israeli military observation posts and barbed wire fences.

In the city of Hamad in Khan Younis, a $135 million public housing project funded by Qatar, with 53 five-story buildings containing about 3,000 apartments and once home to more than 15,000 people, now lies in ruins.

The education system has also been systematically destroyed. UNICEF reports that over 97% of schools have been damaged or destroyed, leaving 658,000 children without formal schooling for more than two years. The Islamic University of Gaza, with over 20,000 students, and Al-Azhar University, with more than 16,000 students, have been leveled.

Agricultural land, Gaza's main source of food, is now almost unusable. The FAO reports that less than 5% of Gaza's farmland remains arable. Israeli bulldozers have flattened greenhouses and stripped away topsoil, directly pushing the population toward famine.

Palestinian journalist Ola Abu Moamer said: “The sight of people searching for food is devastating, and we are on the brink of a famine that could erupt at any moment. Many families return with empty pots from soup kitchens, unable to find any food.”

Currently, 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced, many more than 10 times, and 60% of the population has lost their homes entirely. Families are being squeezed into an ever-shrinking area, with overcrowded tent camps in al-Mawasi pushed right up to the seashore.

In a leaked video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to expand control. “At this moment, we are in full control of 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip… and my directive is to reach 70%,” Netanyahu declared.

Earlier, in March, the Israeli army quietly distributed maps to aid organizations indicating they had seized 64% of Palestinian territory. The US-brokered ceasefire last October required Israel to withdraw, but in reality the Israeli army has continued its advance.

Palestinian journalist Qishta shared: “Satellites photograph destroyed buildings, but they cannot capture the feeling of people searching for their homes and finding nothing. The hardest part is not the destruction, but the stories buried beneath it.”