Satellite images show advance
Israel’s tanks plow through the Gaza Strip
November 3rd, 2023, 6:07 p.m
Israel wants to “cleanse” the Gaza Strip of Hamas. The armed forces are currently targeting the center in the north, Gaza City. Satellite images show how far the troops have advanced.
Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip is in full swing. The armed forces are currently aiming to take control of Gaza City. According to the Israeli military, the city is already surrounded. Independent information on this is hard to come by. At least for the area south of Gaza City, the claims can be confirmed with images from the European space program Copernicus.
Compared to previous Sentinel satellite images from the region, clear traces of heavy equipment, presumably combat vehicles, can be seen. The changes on the ground are particularly clear in the so-called false color images with their characteristic red cast. The most recent images with a clear view of the Gaza Strip were taken on November 1st and provide an objective, bird’s eye view of what is happening.
On October 22nd – when the Sentinel satellites last caught a slightly cloudy view of the Gaza Strip – there was still no sign of the combat units’ advance. Since then, the Israeli armed forces have obviously succeeded in penetrating far into the interior of the country, starting from the eastern border strip near the town of Juhor a-Dik. The distance to the Mediterranean coast seems almost complete. At this point, the Gaza Strip measures almost seven kilometers from the border to the coast.
Israeli combat units have also advanced inland in the north of the sealed-off Palestinian territory. Particularly in the northwest, along the coast, troop movements are well documented and supported by various sources. The ISW (Institute for the Study of War) currently assumes that Israeli units have so far been able to advance inland by around five kilometers.
Satellite images show the advance of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
(Photo: ESA/Sentinel Hub, OCHA, ntv.de, lst)
Further offensives and operations are taking place near the Erez border crossing in the north and on the outskirts of Beit Hanun in the northeast. However, Israeli soldiers there are repeatedly exposed to attacks from Hamas’ extensive tunnel systems. This significantly reduces the Israeli army’s chances of quick success and is one of the reasons why experts fear that everyone involved will have to prepare for long and bloody battles.
The Israelis’ stated goal is to destroy Hamas. Before the ground offensive began, the population of the Gaza Strip was asked to leave the north of the region and seek shelter in designated humanitarian zones in the south. However, civilians are still in the contested areas. The region not far from the Rafah border crossing is also repeatedly the target of Israeli air strikes.