According to the New York Times, which is based on analyzes of satellite images, the IDF is strengthening its military positions within the Gaza Strip by building or expanding military bases. The latter are located in the Netzarim corridor, which extends from the border of Gaza and Israel to the Mediterranean Sea.
This Monday, December 2, the New York Times (NYT) published an investigation in which it revealed that the Israeli army destroyed more than 600 buildings within the Gaza Strip, since September, to build or expand military bases.
“The facilities are paved and surrounded by walls, with housing for soldiers, access roads and parking lots for armored vehicles”, writes the American newspaper.
Buildings which were located, for the most part, not far from the Netzarim corridor6.5 km long, which extends from the border of Gaza and Israel at the Mediterranean Sea.
If you want to know what Israel’s future in Gaza is, you may not want to look further than the Netzarim Corridor. There are two massive checkpoints — which could control all future population flow from the south back into Gaza City — and new Israeli military infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/dui0PHHfIK
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1863593977506574419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Still according to our colleagues, of the 19 bases, twelve were “commissioning” or have been “enlarged” since September. A map shared by NYT reporter Aric Toler shows the location of Israeli bases and the area occupied by the army.
Another post shows the destruction of these buildings whose explosion was filmed by a drone from the 749th Combat Engineer Battalion Israeli and whose images were then shared on a private Instagram account.
As @ytirawi detailed in his piece, many of these mass controlled demolitions in the Netzarim buffer zone were recorded via drone, and uploaded on a private Instagram account used by 749th soldiers. We (with help from @fdov21) geolocated most of these videos. pic.twitter.com/Jqtm1onRHv
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1863591800235008411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For his part, Major Nadav Shoshani, IDF spokesperson, quoted by I24News, justified this operation by indicating that the buildings served as “observation posts and hideouts for Palestinian terrorists”.
He adds: “The army has expanded its grip on the territory on both sides of the axis, to a width of approximately 4.3 kilometers and an identical length, to facilitate control of the area.”
