Israel has razed over 2,500 buildings in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire with Hamas took effect in October, The New York Times reported Monday, as the military continued to destroy alleged terror infrastructure.

According to the report, most of the demolitions have been on the Israeli side of the so-called Yellow Line demarcating the areas of control in Gaza, with the Israel Defense Forces telling the US newspaper that it is dismantling tunnels and buildings that have been booby-trapped.

However, the Times said its investigation found that “scores” of buildings on the Hamas-controlled side of the line have also been demolished, some as far as 900 meters (over half a mile) deep.

The report quoted an anonymous IDF official as saying Israel was not “indiscriminately” destroying buildings, and that many of them had collapsed because they sat on top of terror tunnels that the military blew up.

The official did admit that the IDF was demolishing buildings on both sides of the Yellow Line, but said that Israeli forces did not physically cross the line to do so. The Times said it was unable to verify the official’s claim.

“Our memories have been erased,” said Ashraf Nasr, who lived in north Gaza’s Shejaiya, one of the main areas that the IDF is focusing its demolition efforts, before being displaced due to the war. “But Hamas gave Israel the pretext to carry out this disaster. It militarized civilian spaces.”

Separately, the IDF announced Monday that it struck and killed three armed operatives and wounded a fourth after they approached troops in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza near the Yellow Line, in a manner that it said posed an “immediate threat.”

According to the military, troops from the 188th Armored Brigade operating along the ceasefire line identified four armed........

© The Times of Israel