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24 months of conflict have devastated Gaza.

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

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

Israel says it is attempting to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is dedicated to the elimination of Israel and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been put forward by American President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - alive and dead - and to hand over control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in the leadership of Gaza.

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

Extent of Damage

More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed experts say there is famine in Gaza City.

A UN investigative commission says Israel has committed acts of 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 turned into uninhabitable.

Expansion of Damage

The Israeli operation first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed 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 frontier, was among the initial locations hit by airstrikes. It sustained severe destruction.

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and additional cities in the north and instructed residents 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 urban areas in the south 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 airstrikes on the southern and central regions at the start of December, before initiating a land assault 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 truce was announced in early 2025 an approximately 60% of buildings across the Gaza Strip had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, as per the Gaza health authority.

And the destruction has persisted since Israel ended the ceasefire in March - including in Rafah in the south. The UN estimates more than 90% of the residential buildings 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 allied to it have been engaged in fierce combat 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, whole neighborhoods have been completely demolished, medical facilities and places of worship have been obliterated and farmland where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to debris and dust by armored vehicles and machinery used for destruction by Israeli troops.

Israeli authorities state militants utilize non-military structures such as medical centers for armed operations - but Hamas denies that.

Before the war, 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.

Within 10 days of 7 October 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to abandon their residences, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

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

Households have relocated repeatedly as Israeli forces shifted the emphasis of their campaign, initially telling people in the north to relocate southward of Wadi Gaza river, which cuts the Strip roughly in half, and later ordering people to evacuate a series of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli army warned people to evacuate before operations in the area. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by warnings.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as no-go zones - where limitations are enforced - or imposing displacement orders, meaning Gazans have been told to leave completely.

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 whole border.

Aid agencies have to co-ordinate with the Israeli authorities to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any relief supplies from entering Gaza at the start of March - accusing Hamas of diverting it. Limited aid is now allowed in, although aid agencies still say it is insufficient.

By the start of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been shut down, the majority of fresh produce were in extremely short supply and hospitals were limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

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

Israel’s defence minister announced on 16 April that Israel would establish security zones in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

At the time almost 70% of Gaza was impacted by Israeli restrictions - including the majority of North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the entire Rafah governorate in the south, according to the UN.

And in May, Israel initiated 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 thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" of the Palestinian armed group.

Since then the regions affected by evacuation directives and limitations have been extended to cover 82% of Gaza, as per the UN.

The initial stage of the operation concentrated on targets in Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in the month of August Israel announced plans to seize and control 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 prior to the conflict, with 775,000 residents residing 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” - despite the fact that it has persisted in conducting deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have so far fled the city of Gaza, where a starvation was verified in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

But many more thousands continue to stay in severe living conditions, with health and other essential services collapsing.

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