🔗 Share this article

24 months of fighting have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s aerial assaults and ground invasion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly the entire population has been displaced, and the UN says the majority of residences have been damaged or destroyed.

The offensive was launched after Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were killed and 251 more were captured.

Israel says it is attempting to dismantle the armed and administrative capacities of the Islamist group, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A peace plan has been put forward by American President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - living and deceased - and to transfer Gaza’s governance to independent Palestinian experts, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to relinquishing any political involvement in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is merely 41km in length and 10km in width - about a quarter of the size of London - bordered on three sides by closed borders with Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean coast to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. It is inhabited by over two million residents.

Extent of Damage

More than 90% of homes are estimated to be destroyed or damaged; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have broken down; and experts supported by the UN say there is starvation in Gaza City.

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israeli officials have dismissed the commission’s report, describing it as "distorted and false".

This graphic overview shows how Gaza has become in large parts uninhabitable.

How the Destruction Spread

The Israeli operation first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it said militants were concealed within the non-combatant residents. The group refuted these allegations.

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

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and ordered civilians to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it initiated its land offensive at the end of October 2023.

But Israel was also launching aerial bombardments on the southern cities which numerous Gaza residents from the north were escaping to. By the end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did a large portion of the north.

Israeli forces escalated its bombing of southern and central Gaza at the beginning of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 more than half of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in January 2025 an approximately 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, as per the Gaza health authority.

And the destruction has persisted since Israel ended the ceasefire in March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN estimates more than 90% of the residential buildings in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Crisis

Throughout the war, Hamas - which is classified as a terror group by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and additional factions affiliated with it have been engaged in intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also fired thousands of rockets into Israel, particularly during the initial phase of the war.

However, within Gaza, entire districts have been completely demolished, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed and agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been turned into debris and dust by heavy vehicles and tanks used for demolitions by Israeli troops.

Israeli authorities state militants utilize non-military structures such as hospitals for armed operations - but the group denies these claims.

Prior to the conflict, most of Gaza's 2.1 million people lived in its primary urban centers - Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah, in the centre, and the city of Gaza.

Within 10 days of October 7, 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the truce was implemented 15 months later, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been internally displaced - they continue to be unable to go back.

Families have moved multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the emphasis of their campaign, first instructing people in the north to move south of Wadi Gaza river, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and later ordering people to leave a series of "safe zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli military alerted residents to evacuate before military actions in the region. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by warnings.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

Since Israel ended the ceasefire, it has designated an increasing number of regions of Gaza as no-go zones - where restrictions are in place - or making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed to leave completely.

Initially the evacuation orders covered two regions - in the North Gaza and Khan Younis governorates - with a “no-go” area in place along the whole border.

Humanitarian organizations have to coordinate with the Israeli government to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any relief supplies from entering the territory at the start of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Limited aid is now allowed in, although aid agencies still say it is nowhere near enough.

By the start of April every bakery supported by the UN in Gaza had been closed, the majority of fresh produce were in extremely short supply and medical facilities were limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

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

The Israeli Defense Minister declared on April 16 that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities following the conclusion of hostilities - Hamas has insisted that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was affected by limitations imposed by Israel - encompassing most of the 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 remaining hostages - 20 of which are thought to be alive - and "finish the destruction" of the militant organization.

Since then the regions affected by evacuation directives and limitations have been expanded to include 82% of Gaza, according to the UN.

The first phase of the campaign concentrated on targets in northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in the month of August Israel announced plans to capture and occupy the entire city of Gaza itself - which it has called the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most crowded part of the territory before the war, with 775,000 people residing there.

Those who remained there were instructed to relocate south to al-Mawasi in the south west of the Strip which Israel has classified as a “humanitarian area” - despite the fact that it has continued to carry out deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and unsafe.

Numerous residents have so far fled Gaza City, where a starvation was verified in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

But hundreds of thousands more remain there in dire humanitarian conditions, with medical and vital services failing.

International Response

In September 2025, multiple nations, {including