Israel has encroached on 32% of Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation shows

Gaza’s territory has been shrunk by a buffer zone that winds around its boundary and wide axis torn through its centre.

Israel has taken over some 32 percent of Gaza’s area by “systematically demolishing neighbourhoods” to create a buffer zone and a central axis dividing it, according to Al Jazeera’s Sanad Verification Agency.

This does not include the area of the Philadelphi Corridor on Egypt’s border, which Israel declared it had taken control of on Thursday.

The complete destruction of areas in Gaza has come fast and slow, via air raids, artillery attacks and bulldozers.

“There is no safe place in Gaza” and dignified human life is “a near impossibility”, Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said.

“Even if people were able to return home, many no longer have homes to go to.”