US popes bomb shipments to Israel over Rafah concerns: Live updates

Satellite images taken May 6, left, and May 7, right, show damage in Rafah, Gaza.

Planet Labs, PBC

The ongoing operation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Rafah has expanded from airstrikes to ground operations, which includes bulldozing, new satellite imagery obtained by CNN from Planet Labs shows.

In addition to the new types of operations, the satellite images show that the IDF activity is taking place outside of the immediate border crossing area, which Israel took control of on Monday evening. The images show that IDF forces are over a mile outside of the Rafah crossing gate.

These ground operations were precluded by a number of military strikes in Rafah, which CNN has previously reported, and they appear to be ongoing as well.

In one image, smoke from a recent military strike is still rising. A number of buildings have been completely destroyed by the military strikes in the last 24 hours.

Others have the telltale signs of being razed by bulldozers and other heavy machinery – vehicle tracks and large swaths of disturbed earth. Additionally, CNN has seen the start of several IDF vehicles mustering areas – potentially makeshift forward operating bases – near some of the bulldozed areas.

The new operations, seen on the satellite images, bear striking resemblances to how the initial ground invasion was conducted back in late October 2023 and in other parts of Gaza since then.

When the IDF moved into northern Gaza, they utilized airstrikes shortly before ground forces moved in. When they did move in, armored bulldozers worked with tanks and other military vehicles to bulldoze and raze buildings.

The IDF said in a statement on Wednesday that they were conducting “precise counterterrorism operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah,” which includes “targeted raids.” They also claimed that they had “eliminated terrorists and uncovered terrorist infrastructure, as well as underground shafts in several locations in the eastern Rafah area.”