Two years of fighting have devastated Gaza.
Israel’s aerial assaults and military incursion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, nearly the entire population has been displaced, and the UN states the majority of residences have been destroyed or severely damaged.
The military operation was launched after Hamas's unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were killed and 251 more were captured.
Israeli authorities claim it is trying to destroy the armed and administrative capacities of the Islamist group, which is committed to the elimination of Israel and has been governing Gaza since 2007.
A peace plan has been put forward by American 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 transfer Gaza’s governance to independent Palestinian experts, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to giving up any political involvement in the leadership of Gaza.
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 Sea to the west, where a naval blockade is enforced by Israel. It is home to 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 experts supported by the UN say there is starvation in Gaza City.
A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israeli forces have perpetrated genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israeli officials have dismissed the findings of the commission, labeling it as "distorted and false".
This visual guide shows how Gaza has become in large parts unlivable.
How the Destruction Spread
Israel's campaign first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed Hamas fighters were concealed within the non-combatant residents. The group refuted these allegations.
The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, a mere 2km from the border, was among the initial locations hit by airstrikes. It sustained severe destruction.
Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and instructed residents to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion at the end 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 end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did much of the north.
Israeli forces escalated its bombing of the southern and central regions at the beginning of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been destroyed or damaged.
By the time a truce was announced in early 2025 an approximately 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, as per Gaza's health ministry.
And the devastation has continued since the truce was terminated by Israel in the month of March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN calculates over 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged during the war.
Humanitarian Catastrophe
During the conflict, Hamas - which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and other armed groups affiliated with it have been involved in intense battles against Israeli troops on the ground. They have also fired thousands of rockets into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.
However, within Gaza, whole neighborhoods have been completely demolished, medical facilities and places of worship have been obliterated and agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used for demolitions by Israeli troops.
Israel says militants utilize civilian buildings such as medical centers for military purposes - but the group denies these claims.
Prior to the conflict, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its four main cities - Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Deir al-Balah city, 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 15 months later, an estimated 1.9m people had been forcibly relocated - they continue to be unable to go back.
Households have relocated multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, first instructing people in the north to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza waterway, 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 military alerted residents to evacuate before military actions in the region. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by warnings.
Restricted Areas Grow
Since Israel ended the ceasefire, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as no-go zones - where limitations are enforced - or imposing displacement orders, meaning residents have been instructed to evacuate entirely.
Initially the orders to evacuate applied to two areas - in the North Gaza and Khan Younis governorates - with a “no-go” area in place along the whole border.
Aid agencies have to co-ordinate with the Israeli authorities to operate in the "no-go" areas.
Israeli forces had also prevented any relief supplies from entering Gaza at the start of March - accusing Hamas of commandeering it. Limited aid is now allowed in, although relief groups still say it is insufficient.
By the start of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been shut down, most fresh vegetables were in extremely short supply and hospitals were rationing medications and antibiotics.
The humanitarian organization ActionAid cautioned that a "renewed period of hunger and dehydration" loomed.
Israel’s defence minister announced on April 16 that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to protect Israeli communities following the conclusion of hostilities - Hamas has insisted that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.
At the time almost 70% of Gaza was affected by Israeli restrictions - including most of the North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the whole of the Rafah governorate in the south, according to the UN.
And in May, Israel launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which Netanyahu said would aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of which are thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.
Since then the areas covered by evacuation directives and limitations have been extended to cover 82 percent of the territory, according to the UN.
The first phase of the campaign concentrated on targets in northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel revealed intentions to capture and occupy all of Gaza City itself - which it has referred to as the “last stronghold” of Hamas.
The city had been the most crowded part of the territory before the war, with 775,000 residents living there.
Those who remained there were instructed to relocate south to al-Mawasi in the south west of the Strip which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has persisted in conducting lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and dangerous.
Numerous residents have thus far evacuated the city of Gaza, where a starvation was verified in August 2025 by a UN-backed body.
But many more thousands remain there in severe living conditions, with medical and vital services failing.
Global Reactions
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