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24 months of conflict have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s bombing campaign and military incursion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-controlled health authority, almost the whole populace has been forced to move, and the UN states the majority of residences have been damaged or destroyed.

The military operation came in response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were slain and 251 more were taken hostage.

Israeli authorities claim it is trying to destroy the armed and administrative capacities of the militant organization, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has been governing Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been proposed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to free all remaining hostages - alive and dead - and to transfer Gaza’s governance to independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in the leadership of Gaza.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - roughly one-fourth the area of London - bordered on three sides by closed borders with Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean coast to the west, where a naval blockade is enforced by Israel. It is inhabited by more than 2 million people.

Scale of Destruction

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

A UN investigative commission says Israeli forces have perpetrated acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israel has rejected the commission’s report, describing it as "inaccurate and misleading".

This visual guide shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed militants were hiding among the civilian population. The group refuted these allegations.

The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, a mere 2km from the frontier, was one of the first areas struck by airstrikes. It experienced severe destruction.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and instructed residents to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion at the end of October 2023.

But Israel was also launching 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 airstrikes on the southern and central regions at the beginning of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by January 2024 more than half of structures in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in early 2025 an estimated 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 persisted since the truce was terminated by Israel in March - including in Rafah in the south. The UN calculates more than 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Crisis

During the conflict, Hamas - which is classified as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and other armed groups affiliated with it have been engaged in intense battles against Israeli troops 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 destroyed and agricultural land where greenhouses previously existed have been reduced to sand and rubble by armored vehicles and machinery used for demolitions by Israeli soldiers.

Israel says militants utilize civilian buildings such as hospitals for military purposes - but Hamas denies that.

Before the war, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its four main cities - Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah city, in the centre, and Gaza City.

In just 10 days of 7 October 2023, Israel’s offensive had forced nearly half to leave their homes, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

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

Households have relocated 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 later ordering people to evacuate a series of "evacuation 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.

Restricted Areas Grow

After the truce was terminated, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as prohibited areas - where restrictions are in place - or making them subject to evacuation directives, 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.

Humanitarian organizations have to co-ordinate with the Israeli government to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any relief supplies from entering the territory at the start of March - accusing Hamas of diverting it. Restricted assistance is now allowed in, although relief groups still say it is nowhere near enough.

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 medical facilities were limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

The NGO ActionAid cautioned that a "renewed period of hunger and dehydration" was imminent.

The Israeli Defense Minister announced on 16 April that Israel would establish security zones in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was affected by limitations imposed by Israel - 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 the month of May, Israel initiated a ground offensive named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 captives still held - 20 of which are believed to be living - and "complete the defeat" of the Palestinian armed group.

From that point onward the areas covered by displacement orders and other restrictions have been extended to cover 82% of Gaza, according to the UN.

The first phase of the operation concentrated on objectives within northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in the month of 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 crowded part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 residents residing 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” - despite the fact that it has persisted in conducting lethal attacks 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 famine was confirmed in August 2025 by a UN-backed body.

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

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