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Aerial images show displacement and destruction in Gaza

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Argentina

Monday, August 4


Miembros de la Fuerza Aérea
Members of the Jordanian Air Force observe the Gaza Strip from an airdrop flight on Wednesday. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)

King Abdullah II Air Base, Jordan - Blocks and blocks of ruined buildings, dotted with vast tent encampments. Scenes of devastation where neighborhoods once stood.

The opportunity to travel on Wednesday on a Jordanian aid flight conducting airdrops over the Gaza Strip provided a rare opportunity to obtain low-altitude aerial views of the extent of the destruction and displacement in the territory.

Gaza has been closed to the foreign press since Israel launched its military operation in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and aerial views have been limited mainly to satellite imagery, Israeli military photos, and drone footage of Gazan journalists and media workers; at least 186 of them have been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

An aerial view of Gaza City looking east from a Jordanian airdrop flight on Wednesday. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)Vista aérea de la Ciudad

The images show the destructive impact of Israeli bombing that has damaged or destroyed much of Gaza, repeatedly displaced most of its population and left more than 60,000 dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Israel Defense Forces claim they only target militants. They blame Hamas for civilian deaths, claiming the militants operate in populated areas. “IDF actions are based on military necessity and in accordance with international law,” the IDF stated Saturday.

Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 people, according to Israel, and took another 250 hostage in the 2023 attack. More than 450 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Journalists from Sky News and the BBC reporting from aid flights from Jordan this week said they were informed that Israel had banned filming Gaza from the air. The organizations did not specify how the directive was conveyed. Sky reported that they were told Israel could delay or cancel aid flights if its journalists filmed Gaza.

The IDF declined to comment.

A Washington Post photojournalist received no such instructions before boarding a Royal Jordanian Air Force flight on Wednesday. On a later flight Friday, a Jordanian crew member informed her that she was not allowed to film Gaza, only the airdrop.

The images shown here are from Wednesday, when two Jordanian C-130 transport planes, in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates Air Force, dropped more than 16 tons of food and infant formula over Gaza, with Israeli authorization. Most of the photographs were taken through the plane's windows, looking east toward Gaza City.

Vista aérea que muestra la
An aerial view showing massive destruction and displacement in an area of Gaza City, photographed from a Royal Jordanian Air Force C-30 military aircraft. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)

A close-up shows seven schools destroyed by Israeli strikes: al-Zahawi Boys' Preparatory School, Asdood Boys' Middle School, Abo Thar al-Ghafary School, Julis Boys' Middle School, al-Awda Primary School, Sarafand Boys' Preparatory School, and Samy al-Alamy Boys' School.

Tents for displaced people occupy schoolyards. Photos posted on Facebook a few days before the start of the war showed young students lining up there.

Destroyed schools in Gaza, as seen from a Jordanian aid flight on Wednesday. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)Escuelas destruidas en Gaza, vistas

A solitary building on a plot of land occupied by displaced persons' tents is the El-Helou International Hotel, which houses a vast ballroom draped in gold fabric and lit by chandeliers. It was once a popular venue for weddings and meetings in northern Gaza City.

El Hotel Internacional El-Helou en
The El-Helou International Hotel in Gaza City, as seen from a Jordanian aid flight on Wednesday. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)

Rubble, collapsed buildings, and tent encampments occupy the site where the Maqoussi Mosque and the Ministry of Economy once stood. The mosque's dome collapses into its flattened roof. Next to the mosque stands the ruined facade of the Sheikh Radwan Health Center, a clinic destroyed during the war and run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Las ruinas de la Mezquita
The ruins of the Maqoussi Mosque and the Economy Ministry in Gaza, as seen from a Jordanian aid flight on Wednesday. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)
Vista aérea de la ciudad
Aerial view of Gaza City. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)

A zoomed-in image shows the ruins of the Jabaliya refugee camp. The scene of fierce fighting between Hamas and the Israeli military in previous conflicts, Jabaliya was besieged by the Israeli military from October to December 2024. Food and water supplies, as well as access for civil defense and paramedics, were virtually denied, and large areas of the neighborhood were demolished.

Tens of thousands of Jabalya residents fled the area last year, often passing through what they called the"roundabout of death," an intersection of two major roads visible near the top of the image, where witnesses often reported fleeing people were shot and killed. Heidi Levine/For The Washington PostDecenas de miles de residentes

Adel, the Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot who flew the aid drop mission, said the view of Gaza from the air “left me in shock.” Adel witnessed “increasing” destruction compared to the last time he flew over Gaza during the first round of airdrops last year, he added.

He withheld his last name because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

“Everyone who visits this area will be shocked,” he added. “We hope this war ends. We need to give them more and more food, because they are starving there.”

Many people live in overcrowded tent settlements, crammed into roundabouts, courtyards and rubble in Gaza City. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)Muchas personas viven hacinadas en

“It was very sad to see the Gaza Strip from above,” said Maher Halaseh, 36, a navigator with the Royal Jordanian Air Force who also participated in last year’s airdrops, on Friday. “Everything is different. There are no buildings, nothing. There are a lot of tents on the coast. I started seeing it when all the buildings were there. Now, there’s nothing. They’re dying there.”

La Planta Desalinizadora del Sur
The South Gaza Desalination Plant in Deir al-Balah, visible in the lower left of this image, is the largest water desalination plant in Gaza and was a vital source of drinking water for an estimated quarter of a million Gazans before the war, according to UNICEF, which operates the facility jointly with the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Company. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)

A closer look reveals how hundreds of thousands of Gazans live, in makeshift tents erected anywhere, including on the beach in southern Gaza.

Vista aérea de la región
Aerial view of the southern Gaza Strip. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)

Humanitarian groups say the airdrops that resumed this week, while better than no aid, are far less efficient than sending aid overland. Aid organizations have called them a “last resort.” Instead, they have urged Israel to open land crossings and allow a large volume of trucks into Gaza. Israel says it is not restricting aid to Gaza.

Jordan has become a platform for airdrops, supported by governments in the region and Europe, in response to the growing famine.

Airdrops are not precisely guided and do not allow for organized distribution on the ground. In previous waves of airdrops, heavy aid boxes fatally crushed aid seekers and swept them into the sea, where they drowned while trying to reach the food, health officials reported.

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