Blocking publication of satellite images of Israeli aggression in Gaza

Satellite imagery is very important nowadays in gathering information about war. Because through this, in addition to knowing the military activities in the war-torn areas, how many houses have been destroyed, how much damage has been done – that information is also known.

After the Palestinian independence armed group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, Israel has been indiscriminately bombarding the Gaza Strip in Palestine since that day as a retaliatory attack. About 10,000 Palestinians have already been killed in the Gaza Strip in three consecutive weeks of Israeli aggression.

Israel has recently intensified airstrikes in Gaza as well as launched ground operations. According to Al Jazeera news, the satellite companies have stopped providing satellite images of Gaza to the media at such a moment. But the satellite images of the invasion of the Russian forces in Ukraine are being provided correctly.

Satellite images are important for understanding how the Israeli military is preparing for ground operations in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip. But Planet Labs, a satellite organization, has stopped releasing high-resolution images of Gaza.

Planet Labs customers told US news portal Semaphore that Planet Labs is not releasing even medium or low resolution satellite images of northern Gaza. Former scientists of the US space research agency NASA are the founders of Planet Labs.

Planet Labs did not give a reason for the ban on satellite images of Gaza. However, according to Semaphore’s report, satellite images of Gaza are worrying US military officials. Because in a report of the New York Times on October 19, the satellite images published showed the location of Israeli tanks in the Gaza Strip.

Maxar Technologies, a rival of Planet Labs, is also releasing images of Gaza with significant delays.

Consumers complain that while Western satellite companies are hesitant to broadcast images of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, they seem comfortable broadcasting images of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.