{"id":2952,"date":"2024-05-10T11:38:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T11:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/israeli-military-operations-in-rafah-expand-from-airstrikes-to-ground-operations-satellite-images-show\/"},"modified":"2024-05-10T11:38:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T11:38:09","slug":"israeli-military-operations-in-rafah-expand-from-airstrikes-to-ground-operations-satellite-images-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/israeli-military-operations-in-rafah-expand-from-airstrikes-to-ground-operations-satellite-images-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli military operations in Rafah expand from airstrikes to ground operations, satellite images show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The images, which bear a striking resemblance to the early stages of Israel\u2019s ground invasion of Gaza last year, show the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are active outside of the immediate border crossing area between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel took control of on Monday evening. <\/p>\n

The images, which span from May 5 to 7, suggest some buildings have been bulldozed and show what appear to be mustering areas for IDF vehicles. Some of the IDF forces have penetrated more than a mile inside the Palestinian enclave from the Rafah crossing gate, the images also show. <\/p>\n

These ground operations follow a series of airstrikes on Rafah that have completely destroyed several buildings in the past 24 hours, and killed at least four people, according to a local hospital. Satellite images suggest these strikes are continuing, with one picture showing smoke still rising from one location. <\/p>\n

Four people were killed and around two dozen injured by Israeli airstrikes in the Tal Al Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah on Wednesday, the hospital said. <\/p>\n

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Satellite images from May 6 and May 7 show damage in Rafah, Gaza.<\/span> Planet Labs, PBC<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tell-tale signs<\/h2>\n

Rafah has become the central focus of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the extreme wing of his coalition to launch a full-scale ground operation in the city to destroy Hamas, while the more moderate wing has urged him to prioritize securing a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. <\/p>\n

During nearly seven months of war, more than 1 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel\u2019s destruction of much of the strip\u2019s north. Gazans began fleeing the densely populated city on Monday after Israel\u2019s military issued a call for residents in the east of Rafah to \u201cevacuate immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the satellite images, some areas in Rafah show the tell-tale signs of being razed by bulldozers and other heavy machinery \u2013 vehicle tracks and large swaths of disturbed earth. <\/p>\n

The new operations shown by the satellite images resemble the initial ground invasion of Gaza back in October 2023, and in other parts of the enclave since then: When the IDF moved into northern Gaza, it carried out a series of airstrikes shortly before moving ground forces in. Once IDF ground forces did move in, armored bulldozers worked with tanks and other military vehicles to bulldoze and raze buildings. <\/p>\n

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Satellite images show Rafah, Gaza, before and during an airstrike.<\/span> Planet Labs, PBC<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The IDF said in a statement on Wednesday that it was conducting a \u201cprecise counterterrorism operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah,\u201d which included \u201ctargeted raids.\u201d It also claimed to have \u201celiminated terrorists and uncovered terrorist infrastructure, as well as underground shafts in several locations in the eastern Rafah area.\u201d <\/p>\n

The IDF has released footage of its 401st Brigade Combat team conducting \u201coperational raids on suspicious buildings\u201d near to where it said its soldiers had been fired on by Hamas militants. <\/p>\n

The IDF said that during the operation it \u201celiminated about 30 terrorists and destroyed large amounts of terrorist infrastructure in the region.\u201d <\/p>\n

More than 34,600 people have been killed in Gaza since October, according to Palestinian authorities in Gaza. Aid agencies have been warning Israel against launching a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, saying \u201cany ground operation would mean more suffering and death\u201d for the 1.2 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in and around the city, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists in Geneva. <\/p>\n

Northern Gaza is already experiencing a \u201cfull-blown famine\u201d which is rapidly spreading across the strip, the World Food Programme warned over the weekend. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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The images, which bear a striking resemblance to the early stages of Israel\u2019s ground invasion of Gaza last year, show the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are active outside of the immediate border crossing area between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel took control of on Monday evening. The images, which span from May 5 to 7, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}