‘God wants our job to be clearing the land’: 70% of Gaza destroyed, new data shows

“God wants our job to be simply clearing the land,” an Israeli bulldozer operator told Haaretz in a recent interview, a remark seen as encapsulating the ideological zeal driving the scale of unprecedented destruction now unfolding in the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to new satellite analysis by the Hebrew University’s Geographic Information System (GIS) Centre, nearly 70 per cent of buildings across Gaza have been levelled or severely damaged, surpassing earlier UN estimates. In Rafah, 89 per cent of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The figure stands at 84 per cent in the north and 78 per cent in Gaza City.

The study’s author, Adi Ben-Nun, warned: “The residents of Gaza have nowhere to return to. The world they knew and their daily lives are simply gone.” His mapping reveals a policy of total devastation: homes, public buildings, schools, hospitals and agricultural lands have been systematically wiped out.

The method of destruction has shifted since the early phase of Israel’s genocide, which relied on aerial bombardment. The new phase employs mechanical demolition, often carried out by private contractors under military protection. These contractors reportedly earn up to 5,000 shekels ($1,500) per building destroyed and have pressured commanders to expand the scope of demolition.

Among those taking part is reservist Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, who serves as a D9 bulldozer operator. Zarbiv has openly boasted of his role in the destruction, stating: “Rafah is being cleared today; there’s no Rafah. Northern Gaza is almost entirely levelled. Khan Yunis is next – it’ll be wiped out as well.” He went on to say that “God wants our job to be simply clearing the land.”

The Hebrew University study estimates 160,000 buildings are either uninhabitable or destroyed—approximately 70 per cent of Gaza’s infrastructure. This new figure eclipses April’s UN estimate, which put the number at just over 50 per cent.

The UN Satellite Centre further estimates that the weight of debris produced by this destruction has reached 50 million tonnes, roughly 137 kilogrammes per square metre of the entire Strip. The UN Environment Programme previously warned that the volume of construction waste in Gaza is equivalent to 14 times the debris generated by all armed conflicts worldwide since 2008. Clearing it, they projected, would take at least 21 years and cost $1.2 billion.

READ: UN says scale of destruction in Gaza much greater than in Ukraine

This policy of engineered destruction is now overt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli Knesset: “We are destroying more and more homes. They have nowhere to return to. The only expected outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate out of the Strip.”

The Israeli prime minister’s remarks have been widely cited by analysts and legal experts as further evidence supporting claims that the destruction in Gaza aligns with the definition of genocide under international law. 

Specifically, Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention includes “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” The levelling of entire cities forced displacement, and systematic denial of access to shelter, education and basic services are increasingly being viewed in this context.

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