High-resolution satellite images publicly accessible via Google and Apple map services are exposing sensitive Israeli sites including the Dimona nuclear reactor as well as Israel’s Gaza assaults, a report revealed on Tuesday.
“Aerial photographs of the Dimona Nuclear Research Center, classified military bases and images from Gaza showing IDF (army) maneuvering units are now publicly accessible” via these services, said Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
“Recent posts on X and other platforms reveal that the resolution of these images is relatively high compared to what was previously available, reaching 0.4 meters,” the report said.
“The availability of such high-resolution satellite images on major mapping platforms transforms them into a significant open-source intelligence resource for hostile entities, researchers or even curious individuals. This development stems from changes in global satellite imaging capabilities and regulations,” it added.
Secretly built with French assistance starting in the late 1950s, the Dimona reactor is Israel’s most prominent nuclear facility. While Israel claims it serves civilian purposes, former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu disclosed details of its nuclear weapons programme to the media in 1986, revealing evidence suggesting the production of nuclear warheads.
Israeli secret service (Mossad) agents abducted Vanunu in Italy in 1988. He was secretly transported to Israel and sentenced to 18 years in prison for treason and espionage and was released in 2004.
In 1997, the US enacted the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, prohibiting the collection and dissemination of high-resolution satellite imagery of Israel and its occupied territories without approval from a federal authority.
The report said that at the time, most commercial satellite imagery came from American companies, and the law directly resulted from Israeli diplomatic efforts in Congress.
“However, the situation has changed dramatically. By 2017, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined that non-US satellite imagery had surpassed the resolution of American satellites,” according to the newspaper.
This allowed mapping and navigation services to access high-quality images of Israel from non-American sources, it added.
Hovering over Gaza
The newspaper noted that obtaining high-resolution images of classified sites in Israel, including the Dimona Nuclear Research Center and strategic bases not concealed underground, has been relatively easy for over three years.
Satellite imagery has also captured “Israeli aircraft activity, such as F-15s over Gaza and Lebanon, as well as maneuvering ground units.”
“This situation appears to be uncontrollable. The Israeli government has little influence over the publication of such images by commercial American entities, as long as they comply with the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment,” the report said.
Unlike in 1997, the daily noted, numerous global online services now offer satellite imagery for navigation and mapping to commercial uses like mining, agriculture, urban planning and research.
In 2021, foreign sources reported extensive construction at Dimona, “an event that would have been unthinkable in the past,” highlighting what the newspaper called “the absurdity of the situation.”
Only nuclear weaponed state in Middle East
Israel remains the only regional state with a nuclear arsenal, unmonitored internationally, while continuing to occupy Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories for decades.
Israel’s Defense Ministry and military spokesperson declined to comment, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. The newspaper said it “appears the (government’s) chosen approach is to ignore the problem—a strategy that has proven ineffective in recent years when dealing with security challenges.”
The report comes as Israel has killed nearly 51,200 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
