Nearly 40% of buildings within planned Gaza buffer zone demolished: Report

According to the report much of the land that has now been turned into a military zone, was agricultural land.

This marks another deliberate attempt by Israel to fulfil its stated aim of making the Strip uninhabitable by preventing Palestinians from growing their own food.

The demolition moves appear to be part of a plan to build a kilometer-wide buffer zone inside the Strip.

The Israeli military appears to have demolished 1,072 out of 2,824 structures located one kilometre or less from the border. Most of the buildings were residential, according to the Hebrew University study.

“Shaul Arieli, a former Israeli colonel who served in Israel’s Gaza division told the WSJ that “the creation of a permanent buffer zone inside Gaza likely would be illegal under international law because Israel would be assuming control of land beyond its recognised territory and, as an occupying power, would be prohibited from altering boundaries.”

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 25,700 Palestinians and injuring 63,750 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.