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24 months of conflict have devastated Gaza.

The Israeli aerial assaults and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, almost the whole populace has been displaced, and the UN states most homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The offensive was launched after Hamas's unprecedented assault across the border 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 armed and administrative capacities of the militant organization, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has been governing Gaza since 2007.

A peace plan has been proposed by American President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - living and deceased - and to hand over control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to disarmament or to giving up any future political role in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is merely 41km in length and 10km in width - roughly one-fourth the area of London - surrounded on three sides by closed borders with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean coast to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. It is home to more than 2 million people.

Extent of Damage

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

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israeli forces have perpetrated genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - although Israeli officials have dismissed the commission’s report, labeling it as "inaccurate and misleading".

This visual guide shows how Gaza has become in large parts unlivable.

Expansion of Damage

Israel's campaign initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it said militants were hiding among the non-combatant residents. The group refuted these allegations.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was among the initial locations hit by airstrikes. It sustained heavy damage.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities in the north and instructed residents to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it initiated its land offensive 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 end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did much of the north.

Israel intensified its airstrikes on the southern and central regions at the start of December, before initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by January 2024 over 50% of structures in Gaza 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 Gaza's health ministry.

And the destruction has persisted since Israel ended the ceasefire in the month of March - including in Rafah in the south. The UN estimates over 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

Throughout the war, the militant group - which is classified as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions affiliated with it have been involved in fierce combat 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 completely demolished, hospitals and mosques 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.

Israeli authorities state Hamas uses civilian buildings such as medical centers for armed operations - but the group denies these claims.

Before the war, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its primary urban centers - Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah, in the centre, and Gaza City.

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

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

Households have relocated 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 number of "safe zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli army alerted residents to evacuate before military actions in the region. However, not every Israeli attack are preceded by warnings.

Restricted Areas Grow

Since Israel ended the ceasefire, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as prohibited areas - where restrictions are in place - or making them subject to displacement orders, meaning residents have been instructed 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 entire frontier.

Humanitarian organizations have to coordinate with the Israeli authorities to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any relief supplies from entering the territory at the beginning of March - accusing Hamas of commandeering it. Restricted assistance is now permitted to enter, although aid agencies still say it is insufficient.

By the beginning of April every bakery supported by the UN in Gaza had been closed, most fresh vegetables were in very limited supply and hospitals were rationing medications and antibiotics.

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

The Israeli Defense Minister declared on April 16 that Israel would establish protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - Hamas has insisted 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 the month of May, Israel launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which the Prime Minister stated would aim to secure the release of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of which are thought to be alive - and "finish the destruction" of the militant organization.

Since then the regions affected by displacement orders and other restrictions have been expanded to include 82% of Gaza, as per the UN.

The first phase of the operation concentrated on targets in Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in August Israel announced plans 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 prior to the conflict, with 775,000 residents residing there.

Those who remained there were instructed to relocate south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has persisted in conducting deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and dangerous.

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

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

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