A Guardian analysis of satellite imagery of the northern Gaza Strip in the aftermath of heavy bombardments has identified more than 1,000 craters visible from space within approximately 10 square kilometres.
In one area – just half a kilometre wide – a group of residential blocks has been bombed so severely that about 100 craters, some as large as 45ft (13.9m), are visible.
At least one hospital and three schools in the area have been rendered out of service, apparently due to a nearby bombing. Other buildings in the image, taken on 30 October, have been levelled entirely and reduced to rubble.
In a war launched in response to Hamas’s 7 October assault that killed 1,400 people, Israel said it had fired more than 8,000 munitions into Gaza, hitting over 12,000 targets. This is more than the US used in a year during its operations in Afghanistan.
More than 9,000 people have been killed in the strikes, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The number of children reported killed in Gaza – now more than 3,700 – has surpassed the annual number of children killed across all of the world’s conflict zones since 2019, according to Save the Children.
More than 200 schools have been damaged – about 40% of the total number of schools in the Gaza Strip – about 40 of them very seriously, according to the UN Children’s Fund.
Under international humanitarian law, schools and hospitals are protected civilian objects, and the humanitarian principles of distinction and proportionality must be taken into consideration during targeting.
