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ISRAEL IS PREPARING FOR A PERMANENT PRESENCE IN GAZA, SATELLITE
IMAGES REVEAL  
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Forensic Architecture and Drop Site News
December 20, 2025
Drop Site News
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_ Since the ceasefire, Israel has constructed at least 13 new
military outposts inside Gaza, consolidated existing military
infrastructure, built roads, and destroyed more Palestinian property.
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Israel is currently maintaining 48 military outposts east of the
yellow line., Image by Forensic Architecture.

 

Israel is currently maintaining 48 military outposts east of the
yellow line. Image by Forensic Architecture.

Since the so-called ceasefire came into effect in Gaza on October 10,
Israel has been consolidating its control of over 50% of Gaza
and—according to new research by Forensic Architecture—physically
altering the geography of the land. Through a combination of the
construction of military infrastructure alongside the destruction of
existing buildings, Israel appears to be laying the groundwork to
establish a permanent presence in the majority of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has constructed at least 13 new military outposts inside Gaza
since the ceasefire—primarily located along the yellow line, in
eastern Khan Younis, and near the border with Israel, according to
analysis of satellite imagery by Forensic Architecture.

“Israel is doing what it always does, and what it historically has
done best: establish ‘facts on the ground,’ incrementally rather
than spectacularly, and make them permanent once those with influence
to force it to reverse course either lose interest, decide that the
cost of confronting Israel is not worth the price, or come out in open
support of Israeli violations. Israel is in no rush and prepared to
play the long game,” Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya and a
former UN official who worked as a senior analyst on Israel-Palestine
for the International Crisis Group, told Drop Site after reviewing a
summary of the Forensic Architecture findings.

The analysis
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also shows that, between October 10 and December 2, 2025, Israel has:

* Accelerated the growth and infrastructure development of 48
existing military outposts inside Gaza.
* Expanded a network of roads connecting military outposts inside
Gaza to the Israeli road network, bases and settlements outside of
Gaza.
* Continued construction that began in September 2025 of a new road
in Khan Younis, re-routing the Magen Oz corridor to run within
Israel’s area of control.
* Engaged in the systematic demolition and destruction of
Palestinian property, particularly in eastern Khan Younis, targeting
areas which haven’t already been destroyed. New military outposts
and roads have emerged across this area.

“Augmenting multiple Israeli statements about extending its borders
with buffer zones to the north, east, and south, this is indisputably
an Israeli campaign to partition the Gaza Strip and thereby promote
its long-term objective of moving the Palestinian population
elsewhere,” Rabbani said. “At the same time, Israeli success is
not a foregone conclusion. If it was, the Palestinian population of
the Gaza Strip would have been ethnically cleansed years if not
decades ago.”

As part of the initial phase of the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli
military partially withdrew to what became known as the “yellow
line,” with over half of Gaza under continued Israeli control. The
term comes from a map that was distributed in late September as part
of President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan that depicted a
phased withdrawal of Israeli troops, to an initial yellow line,
followed by another withdrawal, until an eventual pullback to a
“buffer zone” running inside Gaza along the border with Israel.

The original withdrawal map according to President Trump’s 20-point
Gaza plan.

Trump then posted a new map showing the initial withdrawal line that
left Israel in control of 58% of Gaza. After the ceasefire came into
effect, an Israeli military spokesperson posted
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map with the yellow line showing Israel in control of 53% of Gaza.

Since the ceasefire, Israel has seized more land by physically placing
at least 27 yellow blocks (delineating its area of control) west of
the yellow line marked in Israel’s own maps.

(Top) Satellite image from 7 Nov 2025, showing the distance of yellow
blocks from the ‘yellow line’ in Sheikh Nasser neighborhood, Khan
Younis. Source: Planet Labs LBC. (Bottom) Ground-level image of the
yellow blocks in Sheikh Nasser neighborhood, Khan Younis. Source:
@AmitSegal.

Point 16 of Trump’s 20-point plan explicitly states, “Israel will
not occupy or annex Gaza. As the [International Stabilization Force
(ISF)] establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes
linked to demilitarization.” It goes on to say, “Practically, the
IDF will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the
ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional
authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a
security perimeter presence.”

While the “standards, milestones, and timeframes” around
Israel’s withdrawal have been highly contentious, they are
nevertheless the principal subject of ongoing negotiations. However,
the analysis by Forensic Architecture clearly shows that Israel is
consolidating its military presence on the ground east of the yellow
line in a way that suggests no intention of a further withdrawal.

These findings come as the Trump administration is reportedly planning
the construction of a number of residential compounds, dubbed
“Alternative Safe Communities,” in areas east of the yellow line
to provide housing to tens of thousands of Palestinians, with no
construction allowed on the west side, that appear to be part of a
plan to entrench the partition of Gaza and allow for permanent Israeli
control over more than half of the enclave.

THE FULL FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE ANALYSISISRAEL’S NETWORK OF MILITARY
INFRASTRUCTURE

Within Gaza, Israel is currently maintaining 48 military outposts east
of the yellow line. The outposts are connected to a network of roads
which have been created, expanded or appropriated by the Israeli
military. In turn, these link to Israeli bases, roads, and settlements
outside of Gaza.

NEW ISRAELI MILITARY OUTPOSTS
Since the ceasefire came into effect, Forensic Architecture observed
three changes to Israeli military outposts east of the ‘yellow
line’:

1. An increase in the number of outposts in locations strategic for
occupation.

2. The expansion of outposts.

3. The development of outpost infrastructure.

Forensic Architecture documented 13 new outposts since the ceasefire.
They are primarily located along the ‘yellow line’, in east Khan
Younis, and near Gaza’s border.

CASE STUDY: NEW MILITARY OUTPOST IN JABALIYA

At a new outpost in Jabaliya, a densely populated tent area was
dismantled, and Israel demolished the surrounding buildings. In their
place, Israel carved a road, built berms, and constructed buildings on
the outpost. The largest berms measure 75 by 65 meters.

The outpost was constructed on high ground, and is visible on 26
November in a ground-level photograph taken from the west side of the
‘yellow line’, where Palestinians have been forcibly displaced to.
The two areas are separated by a strip of destruction. From this
vantage point, you can see the berms making up the outpost, with
lights atop them, and the vehicles likely used to construct the
outpost.

Photograph taken on 26 November 2025 in Jabaliya, west of the 'yellow
line', looking towards an Israeli military outpost east of the 'yellow
line. Source: @mahmoud__abusalama
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ISRAEL IS REROUTING EXISTING MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE TO FALL WITHIN
ITS AREA OF CONTROL

In mid-July 2025, the Israeli military announced the completion of the
Magen Oz corridor, a 15-kilometer military road separating the city of
Khan Younis into its eastern and western parts. Since September,
Israel has been constructing a new road in Khan Younis, re-routing the
Magen Oz corridor to run within its area of control.

DESTRUCTION IN EAST KHAN YOUNIS

Military expansion is occurring alongside continued destruction east
of the ‘yellow line’.

The largest body of land under Israel’s control is in the south of
Gaza, and includes Rafah and eastern Khan Younis, which remains
densely packed with private property. Here, since the ceasefire,
Israel has been destroying buildings not previously destroyed, and
constructed new military outposts and roads across the area.

Nearby, demolition vehicles (A) are visible on the border.

Military outpost in Khan Younis, on the border of Gaza, connected by
road to a military crossing in which demolition and military vehicles
are visible. 5 November 2025. Source: Planet Labs LBC
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For more detail, including additional maps and data, visit
gaza.forensic-architecture.org/database
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forensic-architecture.org/location/palestine
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_DROP SITE News. Investigative journalism lives on._

_Gaza is under siege. Ukraine is starting to use U.S. weapons inside
of Russia. India is assassinating its leader’s political enemies
around the world. The U.S. election has left the American people to
choose between Donald Trump, who uses the term Palestinian as a slur,
and Kamala Harris, who has done little to separate herself from the
genocidal policy of the administration in which she serves._

_Free speech is under unprecedented assault from corporate and
government forces. Far right movements are surging in Europe and
beyond. A militant new labor movement is on the march here in the
United States, but a corporate backlash is brewing._

_At a time when the world desperately needs hard-hitting journalism,
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_Drop Site is not simply another non-partisan news organization. It is
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_FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE is a research agency based at Goldsmiths,
University of London. Our investigations employ cutting-edge
techniques in spatial analysis and digital modelling to reconstruct
incidents of state violence and human rights violations._

* Israel
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* Gaza
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* military occupation
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* Donald Trump
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* Benjamin Netanyahu
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