The United States has proposed plans to rebuild Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that was flattened by two years of Israeli bombardment. It has been touted as the centrepiece of a US-Israeli vision for a post-war Gaza, but satellite images suggest the project has stalled before even breaking ground. An Al Jazeera Digital Investigations Unit examination of Planet Labs and Sentinel Hub satellite imagery revealed that Israeli military fortifications are expanding at a relentless pace across Gaza, particularly in Rafah.
Analysis of imagery from February 25 to March 15 confirmed that while rubble removal has essentially ceased in Beit Hanoon in the north and Rafah, Israeli forces are systematically entrenching a permanent military reality across the devastated enclave. While civilian reconstruction has slowed, Israeli military construction has accelerated. Satellite imagery from March 10 shows extensive clearing and fortification at the strategic al-Muntar hilltop in Shujayea, a neighbourhood in Gaza City, and outposts in Khan Younis in Gaza’s south.
In central Gaza, Sentinel imagery from March 15 revealed ongoing work on a trench and dirt berm reaching as far as the Maghazi camp near Deir el-Balah. In Juhor ad-Dik, new roads now link established military sites to newly levelled areas, suggesting the creation of permanent outposts. These findings align with a late 2025 investigation by Forensic Architecture that identified 48 Israeli military sites within Gaza – 13 of which were built after an October “ceasefire”.
These sites have evolved into permanent bases with paved roads, watchtowers and constant communication links to Israel’s domestic military network. At the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos in January, Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, showcased AI-generated visions of a “New Rafah” featuring skyscrapers and luxury resorts. Trump further promoted this “Middle East Riviera” through a 20-point plan, promising $10bn in funding via the Board of Peace, which he has established as a potential rival of the United Nations.
However, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has warned that the “New Rafah” plan is a mechanism for demographic re-engineering and forced displacement. The plan involves dividing Gaza into population blocks and closed military zones. Palestinians would be confined to “cities” of residential caravans, each packing roughly 25,000 people into a single square kilometre (0.4sq miles).
These “cities” are to be surrounded by fences and checkpoints, and access to essential services would be contingent upon passing Israeli-US security screenings – a model Euro-Med likened to ghettos. Gaza’s “yellow line” “ceasefire” boundary is being transformed into a permanent frontier. In Beit Lahiya in the north, satellite images from March 4 show the construction of a dirt berm along the “yellow line” and another running parallel to it and constructed more than 580 metres (634 yards) into what the “ceasefire” designates as land where Palestinians are supposed to live – a significant encroachment beyond the designated line.
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