By Jon Gambrell | Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Satellite photos show new demolition along a 1-kilometer-deep path on the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, according an analysis by The Associated Press and expert reports. The destruction comes as Israel has said it wants to establish a buffer zone there, over international objections, further tearing away at land the Palestinians want for a state.
The demolition along the path represents only a sliver of the wider damage from the Israel-Hamas war seen in Gaza, which one assessment suggests has damaged or destroyed half of all the buildings within the coastal enclave.
Israeli leaders have signaled that they would like to establish a buffer zone as a defensive measure, which they contend could prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that triggered the nearly four-month-old war. That’s despite U.S. warnings not to shrink Gaza’s territory.
Israel’s military declined to answer whether it is carving out a buffer zone when asked by the AP, only saying it “takes various imperative actions that are needed in order to implement a defense plan that will provide improved security in southern Israel.” However, the military has acknowledged it has demolished buildings throughout the area.
An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing internal deliberations, said a “temporary security buffer zone” is under construction.
The scope of the demolitions, however, calls into question how temporary the possible buffer zone will be.
Gaza has a nearly 60-kilometer (37-mile) border with Israel, with its back up against the Mediterranean Sea. Creating that buffer zone would take some 60 square kilometers (23 square miles) out of the Gaza Strip, which has a total landmass of about 360 square kilometers (139 square miles).
Toward the southern part of the Gaza Strip, much of the land in the imagined buffer zone is farmland that abuts the vast $1 billion…
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