Methodology

IDF Designated Kill Zone

We began mapping the Designated Kill Zone maps on 18 March 2025, when the first post-ceasefire displacement order was issued.

We recreated the IDF “Swords of Iron” website to calculate the size (sq km) of each displacement order. When the IDF splits a "population block" (their terminology) we calculate the size ourselves based on their maps. Our maps represent what the IDF makes public.

Map Projection

We use the GCS_WGS_1984 projection to calculate the size of IDF-designated "population blocks."

Why is the kill-zone smaller than UN maps?

The UN drafts its own maps, which have enormous value, with detailed data about conditions on the ground.

We don't try to map out what is happening on the ground because: Israel kills everywhere, every day in the Gaza Strip.

Our goal is to show what the IDF is ordering people to do.

We update our "designated kill zone" map every time the IDF adds or removes a forced displacement order. Usually on the same day as the order is issued. The UN doesn’t update its maps daily, only periodically. It marks a larger designated kill zone than we do, mostly due to the "no-go" zone of the Netazarim Corridor. Given that UN coordination is required to pass through the corridor, we assume the UN maps are accurate. We aren't challenging those maps, they tell a different story.

The story we tell tracks what the IDF is broadcasting to the world.