Israel’s Bulldozers Of War: Finishing What The Nakba Started

September 23, 2025 TheMcgwire

Israel’s Bulldozers Of War: Finishing What The Nakba Started

Washington’s subsidized bulldozer shipments are enabling Tel Aviv to raze Gaza to the ground, reviving tactics used during the Nakba to ethnically cleanse Palestine.

In recent months, Israel has ramped up its use of heavily-armored bulldozers to raze entire neighborhoods, olive groves, and critical infrastructure across the already devastated Gaza Strip. These machines form part of a systematic strategy to permanently alter Gaza’s geography and demography.

In January, US President Donald Trump greenlit the transfer of 134 D9 bulldozers to Israel, upon the implementation of the Gaza–Israel ceasefire agreement. This massive deal had previously been frozen under former US president Joe Biden’s administration. The US-made Caterpillar machines, dubbed “Doobi” or “Teddy Bear” in Hebrew, were swiftly put to use after Israel violated and ended the ceasefire. Soon after, “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” was launched on 16 May, flattening over 2,100 buildings in Khan Yunis alone, shortly after the deal was finalized.

US bulldozers powering Israel’s war machine

In July, Israel received a shipment of bulldozers from the US, in what has been described as “the largest air-and-sea logistics operation in the history of the State of Israel,” according to a Defense Ministry official. Back in February, Tel Aviv also requested another military purchase of brand-new bulldozers, estimated to cost a total of $295 million. In March, the US then fast-tracked the deal, managing to bypass congressional approval by doing so.

Many of these machines have since been deployed to expand Israel’s so-called buffer zone in Gaza, now stretching more than one kilometer into the coastal enclave, severing the strip from the rest of occupied Palestine. There, Israel’s combat engineering corps – which includes the Yahalom, Asaf, and Lahav battalions – have been used to both bulldoze and rig buildings with explosives, also destroying the majority of Gaza’s agricultural lands. According to UN estimates, 92 percent of Gaza’s residential structures have been either partially or completely destroyed.

🔗SOURCE ➡️ The Cradle

Related: 9/22 — American-Made Caterpillar D9 Bulldozers, Shipped Directly By Washington, Have Now Entered Gaza With The 36th Division Under Operation Gideon 2.

8/17 — A Recent Photo Shows The Al-Zaytoun Neighborhood In Gaza City Reduced To Rubble After Israeli Occupation Forces Deployed Bulldozers And Explosive Robots To Demolish Homes.

5/17 — “Israeli bulldozers have begun their invasion of northern Gaza, with a convoy of D9 armored bulldozers and tanks advancing from Zikim toward the southwestern areas of Al-Atatra and Al-Shati Camp. Their orders are: ‘Leave nothing.’‼️‼️

3/1/25 — Settlers used a bulldozer to demolish uninhabited tents in the northern valleys, part of a continuous campaign of tent theft and destruction.

3/1 — Israeli occupation forces bulldoze Mahyoub Street in the Jenin camp, occupied West Bank.