Photos show Israel building permanent military bases in Gaza as US-backed reconstruction plans come to a halt.
The United States has proposed a plan to rebuild Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that was destroyed by two years of Israeli bombardment. It has been envisioned as the centerpiece of a US-Israeli approach to post-war Gaza, but satellite images show the project has stalled before getting off the ground.
Al Jazeera Digital Investigation Unit’s investigation of Planet Labs and Sentinel Hub satellite imagery has revealed that Israeli military fortifications are expanding at a steady pace throughout Gaza, particularly in Rafah.
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Analysis of photographs from 25 February to 15 March confirmed that while debris removal in Beit Hanoun and Rafah in the north has essentially stopped, Israeli forces are systematically establishing a permanent military reality in the devastated area.
While civilian reconstruction has slowed, Israeli military construction has accelerated. Satellite imagery from March 10 shows widespread clearing and fortification of checkpoints on the strategic al-Muntar hilltop in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City and in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza.
In central Gaza, Sentinel imagery from 15 March revealed that ongoing work on a trench and earthworks had reached the Maghazi camp near Deir al-Balah. At Juhor ed-Dik, new roads now connect established military sites with newly leveled areas, suggesting the construction of permanent outposts.
These findings match an investigation conducted in late 2025 by Forensic Architecture, which identified 48 Israeli military sites within Gaza – 13 of which were created after the October “ceasefire”. These sites have developed into permanent bases with paved roads, watch towers, and continuous communication links with Israel’s domestic military network.
‘New Rafa’ illusion
At the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos in January, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner demonstrated an AI-generated vision of a “New Rafa” featuring skyscrapers and luxury resorts. Trump further promoted this “Middle East Riviera” through a 20-point plan, promising $10 billion in funding through the Peace Board, which he has set up as a potential rival to the United Nations.
However, the Geneva-based Euro-Med human rights monitor caution That the “New Rafah” plan is a mechanism for demographic restructuring and forced displacement.
The plan involves dividing Gaza into population blocks and closed military zones. Palestinians will be confined to “cities” of residential caravans, each packing about 25,000 people into one square kilometer (0.4 square mile). These “cities” would be surrounded by fences and checkpoints, and access to essential services would depend on passing Israeli-American security checks – a model Euro-made compared to ghettos.
A new, permanent border
Gaza’s “Yellow Line” “ceasefire” border is being converted into a permanent border. In Beit Lahiya in the north, satellite images from March 4 show the construction of an earthen mound along the “yellow line” and another running parallel to it and covering more than 580 meters (634 yards) of what the “ceasefire” designates as land where Palestinians must remain – a significant encroachment beyond the designated line.
In December, Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir defined this line as the “new border”. Defense Minister Israel Katz later declared that Israel would “never abandon Gaza”, promising to establish military-agricultural settlements.
Al Jazeera’s investigation also revealed that Israel has secretly moved concrete border markers hundreds of meters apart in areas designated for Palestinians.
A bloody ‘truce’
Despite the October “ceasefire”, violence continues. Gaza’s health ministry reported 750 deaths and more than 2,090 injuries since the “ceasefire” began, bringing the total death toll since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023 to more than 72,300. An independent study in The Lancet medical journal showed that the actual death rate may be significantly higher. It estimates that there will be more than 75,000 deaths from “direct violence” alone by the beginning of 2025.
Al Jazeera’s analysis found that Israel carried out attacks on 160 of the 182 days of the “truce”. These attacks often include incursions aimed at leveling areas designated for Palestinian residence.
Efforts to document these developments are facing unprecedented obstacles. This month, Planet Labs announced an “indefinite” ban on images from conflict areas following a request from the US government. Other providers, such as Vantour, have imposed similar restrictions, severely limiting the ability of media and human rights groups to monitor the situation in Gaza.
As of this month, humanitarian assessments by aid groups including Oxfam and Save the Children have given the Trump reconstruction plan a failing gradeSaying it had “failed to demonstrate a clear impact on conditions inside Gaza”.
