Satellite imagery shows that 40% of the buildings in the southern region of the Gaza Strip have now been damaged or destroyed by the Israeli onslaught. Before Israel began its assault on the city, Rafah had served as a refuge for over 1 million Palestinians. 

According to a satellite image analyzed by Planet Labs and published in the Financial Times, 40% of the buildings in Rafah have been impacted throughout the war. Since the invasion of the city started in early May, the IDF has bombarded residential areas and used tanks to reduce entire neighborhoods to rubble. 

After Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israeli forces invaded northern Gaza, and Tel Aviv instructed Palestinians that they would find refuge if they moved south. Over the first several months of the war, more than 1 million Palestinians moved to Rafah, with many living in makeshift tents with few resources to speak of. 

After Israeli forces destroyed Gaza’s other population centers, however, Tel Aviv started to plan an assault on Rafah. President Joe Biden warned that he would curtail some military assistance to Tel Aviv if Israeli forces went through with a major operation, but the threat appears to have had little effect. 

The attack on Rafah has been ongoing for weeks, and Biden has failed to invoke his supposed red line for cutting aid to Israel. While American bomb were reportedly used in recent strikes on a tent camp for Palestinian refugees in the city, the White House still refused to act – as US officials continue to assess that a large-scale invasion had not yet commenced.

Along with destroying a significant portion of the remaining infrastructure in Gaza, the attack on Rafah has shuttered the nearby border crossing, which had served as a critical lifeline for aid into the besieged enclave. The lack of aid pushed the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza closer to famine.