🔗 Share this article

24 months of conflict have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s bombing campaign and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-run health authority, almost the entire population has been forced to move, and the UN says the majority of residences have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The offensive came in response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israeli authorities claim it is attempting to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has been governing Gaza since 2007.

A peace plan has been proposed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. Hamas has agreed to free all remaining hostages - living and deceased - and to hand over control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to laying down arms or to relinquishing any political involvement in the leadership of Gaza.

Gaza is merely 41km in length and 10km in width - roughly one-fourth the area of London - surrounded on three sides by sealed frontiers with Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, where a naval blockade is enforced by Israel. It is inhabited by over two million residents.

Extent of Damage

Over nine out of ten residences are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have broken down; and UN-backed experts say there is famine in Gaza City.

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - although Israel has rejected the commission’s report, describing it as "distorted and false".

This visual guide shows how Gaza has become in large parts uninhabitable.

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it said militants were hiding among the civilian population. Hamas denied this.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was among the initial locations hit by airstrikes. It sustained severe destruction.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities in the north and ordered civilians to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion at the conclusion of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted air strikes on the southern cities which hundreds of thousands of Gazans from the north were escaping to. By the close of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did much of the north.

Israeli forces escalated its airstrikes on southern and central Gaza at the start of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by January 2024 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in early 2025 an estimated 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, as per the Gaza health authority.

And the devastation has persisted since Israel ended the ceasefire in March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN estimates more than 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Crisis

During the conflict, the militant group - which is designated as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions affiliated with it have been involved in fierce combat against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also fired thousands of rockets into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.

However, within Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed and farmland where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to debris and dust by heavy vehicles and tanks used for demolitions by Israeli troops.

Israel says Hamas uses civilian buildings such as medical centers for armed operations - but the group denies these claims.

Before the war, most of Gaza's 2.1 million people lived in its four main cities - Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Deir al-Balah, in the centre, and the city of Gaza.

In just 10 days of 7 October 2023, Israel’s offensive had compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the ceasefire was declared after 15 months, an estimated 1.9m people had been internally displaced - they remain unable to return home.

Families have moved multiple times as Israel changed the focus of its operation, initially telling people in the north to relocate southward of Wadi Gaza river, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and subsequently directing people to evacuate a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli army alerted residents to evacuate before operations in the area. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by alerts.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated an increasing number of regions of Gaza as no-go zones - where restrictions are in place - or imposing evacuation directives, meaning Gazans have been told to evacuate entirely.

Initially the orders to evacuate covered two areas - in the North Gaza and Khan Younis governorates - with a “no-go” area in place along the entire frontier.

Humanitarian organizations have to coordinate with the Israeli authorities to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the start of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Limited aid is now permitted to enter, although aid agencies still say it is insufficient.

By the beginning of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been shut down, most fresh vegetables were in very limited supply and medical facilities were limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

The humanitarian organization ActionAid warned that a "new cycle of starvation and thirst" loomed.

The Israeli Defense Minister declared on 16 April that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any lasting truce.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was affected by Israeli restrictions - encompassing the majority of North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the whole of the Rafah governorate in the south, as reported by the UN.

And in May, Israel launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which the Prime Minister stated would seek to obtain the freedom of the 48 captives still held - 20 of which are believed to be living - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the areas covered by evacuation directives and limitations have been expanded to include 82 percent of the territory, according to the UN.

The initial stage of the operation concentrated on objectives within northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel revealed intentions to capture and occupy the entire city of Gaza itself - which it has referred to as the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most densely populated part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 people living there.

Those who remained there were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has classified as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has continued to carry out deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have thus far evacuated the city of Gaza, where a starvation was verified in August 2025 by a UN-backed body.

But hundreds of thousands more continue to stay in dire humanitarian conditions, with medical and vital services collapsing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including