Satellite Images of Gaza Are Being 'Obscured'

US companies, restricted to selling limited resolution images of Israel, appear to be going further
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 9, 2023 7:42 AM CST
Satellite Images of Gaza Are Being 'Obscured'
This satellite image shows an overview of a number of active fires burning in Gaza City on Tuesday. Vegetation appears in shades of blue, while active fires/thermal hot spots show up as an orange/yellow bloom.   (Satellite image, 2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Space data companies have begun restricting satellite images of the Gaza Strip as Israel launches a ground assault. In the last month, companies including Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies have shared images allowing news outlets to track the destruction from Israeli airstrikes across Gaza. But "after a New York Times report on Israeli tank positions based on the images," San Francisco-based Planet Labs "heavily restricted and obscured parts of images over the Gaza Strip for many users, including news organizations," Semafor reports. Defense analyst Todd Harrison suggests the US government, a lucrative customer, may have requested the change "because the imagery has the potential to reveal things our ally may not want the public to see," per Defense One.

As Quartz reports, US companies are forbidden from releasing satellite imagery of Israel of a higher resolution than imagery available from foreign sources under the 1997 Kyl-Bingaman Amendment. "KBA is intended to protect the interests of Israel," Joe Morrison, VP of commercial product at California-based space data company Umbra, tells Payload. The amendment restricted imagery to 2-meter resolution until 2020, when National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allowed the release of imagery of 40-centimeter resolution. Most companies collect satellite data at much higher resolution. Umbra collects satellite data at 25-centimeter resolution, per Quartz.

But "even if you're taking imagery of Gaza or Lebanon or Egypt, if a corner of the image includes Israel, we treat that image as if KBA applies to the whole scene," Morrison tells Payload. He suggests companies are restricting images of active conflict "because it's hard to predict unintended consequences." However, Semafor contrasts this with the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when "commercial satellite companies provided some of the most compelling images and insights into how the conflict was developing on the ground." According to Defense One, "Maxar releases satellite images of Ukraine at 30-cm resolution, clear enough to make out small features on the ground."

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In a statement, Planet says it continues to release images of Gaza. "We continually monitor the provision of our service to reduce the potential for misuse and abuse through internal controls and processes," it notes. "Enabling transparency and promoting responsible data practices throughout the ongoing conflict is a core tenet of Planet's mission." Maxar says it abides by US commercial license regulations, but is the "primary decision maker" about whether it releases an image and when. "We provide imagery to news outlets regardless of their political viewpoints for the purpose of documenting history," a rep says, adding imagery shared with government customers is meant to support national-security missions by the US and its allies. (More satellite images stories.)

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