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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 entire population has been forced to move, and the UN states most homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

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 captured.

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

A ceasefire proposal has been proposed by American President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. Hamas has agreed to free all remaining hostages - living and deceased - and to transfer control of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to giving up 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 - bordered on three sides by sealed frontiers with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean Sea 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 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 acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - although Israel has rejected the commission’s report, describing it as "distorted and false".

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

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign first targeted northern Gaza - where it claimed militants were concealed within the non-combatant residents. The group refuted these allegations.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, a mere 2km from the border, was among the initial locations hit by airstrikes. It experienced heavy damage.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and ordered civilians 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 aerial bombardments on the urban areas in the south 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 a large portion of the north.

Israeli forces escalated its bombing of southern and central Gaza at the beginning 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 structures throughout Gaza had been harmed, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. 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 the month of March - including in Rafah in the south. The UN estimates over 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Crisis

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 affiliated with it have been engaged in fierce combat against Israeli troops on the ground. They have also launched numerous projectiles into Israel, particularly during the initial phase of the war.

But in Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, medical facilities and places of worship have been obliterated and farmland where greenhouses previously existed have been turned into debris and dust 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 Hamas denies that.

Prior to the conflict, most of Gaza's 2.1 million people 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 October 7, 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to abandon their residences, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

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 multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the emphasis of their campaign, first instructing people in the north to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and later ordering people to leave a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

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

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated an increasing number of regions of Gaza as no-go zones - where restrictions are in place - or making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed to leave completely.

At first the orders to evacuate applied to two regions - in the North Gaza and Khan Younis governorates - with a “no-go” area in place along the whole border.

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

Israeli forces had also prevented any humanitarian aid from entering the territory at the beginning of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Restricted assistance is now allowed in, although relief groups still say it is nowhere near enough.

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

The NGO ActionAid warned that a "new cycle of starvation and thirst" was imminent.

Israel’s defence minister declared 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.

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 entire Rafah governorate in the south, according to the UN.

And in May, Israel initiated a land operation named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which Netanyahu said would seek to secure the release of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are believed to be living - and "finish the destruction" of the Palestinian armed group.

Since then the areas covered by evacuation directives and limitations 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 revealed intentions 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 before the war, with 775,000 residents living there.

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

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 remain there in dire humanitarian conditions, with medical and vital services collapsing.

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