Israel accidentally exposes Gaza military bases and widespread destruction on official map - Middle East Eye

Israel’s official public mapping service briefly published high-resolution satellite imagery revealing military installations and extensive destruction across northern Gaza - a rare lapse in the state’s tight control over wartime visuals.

The error on GovMap was noticed on Monday by an X account called @Stinky915846091, which is dedicated to open-source intelligence and frequently geolocates incidents in the Gaza Strip.

Since then, the Israeli government has resumed blurring all of Gaza on its official website.

GovMap has historically blurred the entire Gaza Strip, as well as military bases and other sensitive sites inside Israel and the occupied West Bank, making the brief appearance of unblurred imagery highly unusual.

The unblurred imagery covered parts of northern Gaza, including the cities of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, among the neighbourhoods most heavily destroyed during the Israeli genocide that began in October 2023.

The images date from 2025 and do not necessarily represent the current status of the military bases, but they do show widespread destruction and at least 11 Israeli army sites inside the military’s buffer zone.

Another X user, @Nrg8000, backed up the imagery and posted it at Soar Atlas. 

Middle East Eye could not independently verify the images, but they concur with previous reports documenting the extent of Israeli military presence in the war‑torn territory and the scale of destruction.

Israel's forces have killed at least 73,928 Palestinians and wounded more than 175,030 since the start of its genocide in Gaza in October 2023, including 1,408 dead and more than 4,916 wounded since the October ceasefire last year.

Meanwhile, independent assessments have found that more than 80 percent of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023, including homes, schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure.

Israeli attacks have hit Beit Hanoun, in the far north of the Gaza Strip, particularly hard, with entire blocks reduced to rubble. Israel has also ethnically cleansed the city of most of its population and turned it into a military zone.

Similar scenes of devastation can be seen Shujaiya, a neighbourhood of Gaza City, where most of the buildings, roads and all signs of life have been obliterated. 

The images show a heavy Israeli military presence in the Karni crossing area, southeast of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, which Israel has used as a forward base for deeper attacks into the strip. 

The Israeli army can be seen surrounded by earth barriers and a large deployment of military vehicles in East Jabalia.