Israel’s military demolished at least 13 high-rise residential and commercial buildings in Gaza City between September and October 2025, reducing thousands of homes to rubble in a campaign Amnesty International says constitutes war crimes of wanton destruction and collective punishment. The organization’s new investigation, based on satellite imagery, witness testimonies, and verified video footage, concludes that the demolitions—carried out with little to no warning—were not justified by military necessity but instead served as a deliberate tactic to pressure Hamas and displace civilians en masse.
On the morning of September 5, 2025, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on his official X account that “the bolt has been removed from the gates of hell,” explicitly linking the destruction to Hamas’s refusal to meet Israel’s demands. By that evening, the first of the high-rise buildings—including Mushtaha Tower 6, a 15-story residential complex housing 76 families—was struck. Residents, including an 85-year-old man unable to walk, were given minutes to evacuate before the structure was reduced to debris. A university professor living in the building described the scene: “We had no time to take anything. My children are still traumatized—the youngest, two years old, now fears the phone ringing because he thinks it means another bombing.”
The Israeli military’s standard justification for each demolition—a generic claim that the buildings hosted Hamas intelligence operations—has been contradicted by Amnesty’s analysis. The organization reviewed 25 verified videos and satellite imagery of the strikes, finding no evidence of military activity in the targeted structures at the time of the attacks. Instead, the buildings—including the 32-story Al-Ghofari Tower, Gaza’s tallest edifice, and the Italian-funded Italian Tower complex—housed civilians, commercial offices, and critical infrastructure like the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).
Katz’s public statements during the campaign underscored its political intent. On September 8, he wrote: “Today, a massive hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City and the roofs of the terror towers will tremble.” The following day, after the destruction of Al-Ghofari Tower, he celebrated its collapse with the words: “The terror tower of Burj al-Ghofari crashes into the sea of Gaza. We are drowning the hotbeds of terrorism and incitement.” Amnesty International’s legal analysis concludes that such rhetoric, combined with the lack of military justification, amounts to collective punishment—a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The demolitions accelerated as Israel expanded its offensive into Gaza City ahead of the October 2025 ceasefire. By September 2025, 83% of structures in Gaza City were damaged or destroyed, according to UNOSAT satellite imagery, marking a 37% increase from assessments conducted two months earlier. The campaign forced thousands of internally displaced Palestinians—many of whom had only recently returned from southern Gaza during a January 2025 truce—to flee again, this time with no prospect of returning to their homes east of the so-called “yellow line,” a demarcation imposed by Israeli forces that prohibits Palestinian access to over 55% of Gaza’s territory.
A 33-year-old father of three, whose 10-story Al-Najm building in Gaza City’s al-Shati refugee camp was demolished on September 11, described how his family now lives in a tent in Khan Younis. “Our children are sick from the rain and cold,” he said. “My seven-year-old son saw his home bombed in front of his eyes. He doesn’t understand why we can’t go back.” The Israeli military’s spokesperson provided no specific evidence linking the building to Hamas activities, instead posting a prewritten statement claiming “precision-guided munitions” had been used to mitigate civilian harm—a claim Amnesty’s Crisis Evidence Lab found inconsistent with the scale of destruction.
Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued demolitions in areas under its full operational control, including the razing of makeshift camps near the yellow line. On March 19, 2026, Amnesty International formally requested details from the Israeli Defense Ministry about the military objectives of each strike. As of publication, no response had been received. Legal experts warn that the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure—combined with restrictions on humanitarian aid and the prohibition of returns to eastern Gaza—constitutes a deliberate policy of inflicting conditions calculated to bring about physical destruction, a core element of the crime of genocide under the Rome Statute.
The World Bank, EU, and UN’s April 2026 Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment estimates that 371,888 homes—76% of Gaza’s total—were damaged or destroyed in the first two years of the conflict. With reconstruction stalled and aid access severely restricted, displaced families face an indefinite future in overcrowded shelters, where basic necessities remain scarce. The latest demolitions have further eroded what little stability the ceasefire provided, leaving Gaza’s population without shelter, livelihoods, or any clear path to recovery.
