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Two years of fighting have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s aerial assaults and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, almost the entire population has been forced to move, and the UN says the majority of residences have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The offensive was launched after Hamas’ unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.

Israel says it is trying to destroy the military and governing capabilities of the Islamist group, which is dedicated 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 Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to free all remaining hostages - living and deceased - and to transfer Gaza’s governance to Palestinian technocrats, but it has not committed to disarmament or to relinquishing 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 - surrounded on three sides by sealed frontiers 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

More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure have collapsed; and experts supported by the UN say there is famine in Gaza City.

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

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

How the Destruction Spread

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

The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, a mere 2km from the frontier, was one of the first areas hit 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 initiated its land offensive at the conclusion of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted aerial bombardments on the urban areas in the south 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.

Israel intensified 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 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in early 2025 an estimated 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been harmed, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, as per the Gaza health authority.

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

Humanitarian Crisis

During the conflict, Hamas - which is designated as a terror group by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and other armed groups affiliated with it have been involved in intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also launched numerous projectiles into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.

However, within Gaza, whole neighborhoods have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed 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 hospitals for armed operations - but Hamas denies that.

Prior to the conflict, most of Gaza's 2.1 million people lived in its primary urban centers - 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 agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the ceasefire was declared after 15 months, an estimated 1.9m people 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 the Wadi Gaza waterway, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and later ordering people to evacuate a number of "safe zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli army alerted residents to evacuate before military actions in the region. 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 no-go zones - where restrictions are in place - or making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed to evacuate entirely.

At first the evacuation orders covered two regions - in the North Gaza and Khan Younis governorates - with a “no-go” area in place along the entire frontier.

Aid agencies have to coordinate with the Israeli government to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the start of March - accusing Hamas of diverting it. Restricted assistance 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, most fresh vegetables were in extremely short supply and hospitals were limiting distribution of painkillers 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 establish protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities following the conclusion of hostilities - the group has demanded that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

At the time almost 70% of Gaza was impacted by Israeli restrictions - encompassing 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 land operation named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which Netanyahu said would aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of which are believed to be living - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the areas covered by evacuation directives and limitations have been expanded to include 82 percent of the territory, as per the UN.

The first phase of the operation concentrated 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 densely populated part of the territory before the war, with 775,000 people living there.

Individuals who stayed behind were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has classified as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has persisted in conducting lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have thus far evacuated the city of Gaza, where a starvation was verified in August 2025 by a UN-backed body.

But hundreds of thousands more remain there in severe living conditions, with health and other essential services failing.

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