TNH investigates: Israel’s demolition of eastern Gaza

Since the October 2025 US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have stepped up a systematic campaign of erasure in the about 64% of Gaza directly under their control, which is almost entirely depopulated – tearing down whatever remains, setting fire to fields, and bulldozing towns and once-green agricultural communities into the ground. 

The New Humanitarian has spent more than six months monitoring satellite imagery to document Israel’s clearing of land and subsequent construction activities, focusing on some of the most-affected areas in southeastern Gaza, and speaking to Palestinian who lived in the communities being erased. 

We found a pattern of activity that points to Israel creating a blank slate and then establishing infrastructure to maintain a long-term presence in the areas of eastern Gaza it controls – what senior aid workers say could be the groundwork for annexation. 

In the process, the property rights of Palestinians who lived on and owned the land are being entirely neglected and usurped.  

This conversation was moderated by The New Humanitarian’s Staff Editor and Reporter, Eric Reidy, who was joined by: 

• Riley Sparks | Independent journalist who has conducted multiple in-depth investigations into Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip for The New Humanitarian
• Maha Hussaini | Award-winning Palestinian journalist and human rights activist based in Gaza
• Muna Haddad | Lawyer, Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and PhD candidate, Queen Mary University of London.
• Itay Epshtain | Norwegian Refugee Council Special Advisor