🔗 Share this article

Two years of conflict have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s bombing campaign and military incursion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, almost the whole populace has been forced to move, and the UN states the majority of residences have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The military operation came in response to Hamas’ unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

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

A peace plan has been proposed by US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - living and deceased - and to transfer control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has refused to agree to laying down arms or to relinquishing any future political role 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 sealed frontiers with Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. It is inhabited by more than 2 million people.

Extent of Damage

Over nine out of ten residences are estimated to be destroyed or damaged; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed experts 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 Israel has rejected the commission’s report, describing it as "distorted and false".

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

How the Destruction Spread

The Israeli operation initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed militants were hiding among the non-combatant residents. Hamas denied this.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was one of the first areas struck by Israeli strikes. It experienced severe destruction.

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

But Israel was also launching air strikes on the southern cities which numerous Gaza residents 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 bombing of the southern and central regions at the start of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in January 2025 an approximately 60% of buildings across the Gaza Strip had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, as per the Gaza health authority.

And the devastation has continued since the truce was terminated by Israel in March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN estimates over 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

During the conflict, the militant group - which is classified as a terror group by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and other armed groups allied to 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, entire districts have been completely demolished, hospitals and mosques have been obliterated and farmland where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used for destruction by Israeli soldiers.

Israeli authorities state Hamas uses civilian buildings such as medical centers for armed operations - 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, in the centre, and Gaza City.

In just 10 days of October 7, 2023, Israel’s offensive had compelled almost 50% to abandon their residences, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

And by the time the truce was implemented 15 months later, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been forcibly relocated - they remain unable to return home.

Families have moved repeatedly as Israel changed the emphasis of their campaign, initially telling people in the north to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which cuts the Strip roughly in half, and subsequently directing people to leave a series of "safe zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli army warned people to evacuate before operations in the area. However, not every Israeli attack are preceded by alerts.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

Since Israel ended the ceasefire, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as prohibited areas - where restrictions are in place - or imposing displacement orders, meaning Gazans have been told to evacuate entirely.

At first the evacuation orders 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 co-ordinate with the Israeli government to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any relief supplies from entering Gaza at the beginning of March - accusing Hamas of commandeering it. Restricted assistance is now allowed in, although relief groups still say it is nowhere near enough.

By the beginning of April every bakery supported by the UN in Gaza had been shut down, most fresh vegetables were in extremely short supply and hospitals were limiting distribution of medications and antibiotics.

The humanitarian organization ActionAid warned that a "renewed period of hunger and dehydration" loomed.

The Israeli Defense Minister announced on 16 April that Israel would establish protected areas in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any lasting truce.

At the time nearly 70% of Gaza was impacted by Israeli restrictions - including most of the North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the entire Rafah governorate in the south, as reported by the UN.

And in the month of May, Israel launched a land operation named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would seek to obtain the freedom of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of which are believed to be living - and "finish the destruction" of the Palestinian armed group.

From that point onward the areas covered by displacement orders and other restrictions have been expanded to include 82 percent of the territory, according to the UN.

The first phase of the campaign focused on objectives within northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel announced plans to capture and occupy all of Gaza City itself - which it has called the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most crowded part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 residents residing there.

Individuals who stayed behind were instructed to relocate south to al-Mawasi in the south west of the Strip which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian area” - despite the fact that it has persisted in conducting lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and unsafe.

Numerous residents have thus far evacuated Gaza City, where a famine was confirmed in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

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

Global Reactions

In September 2025, multiple nations, {including