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24 months of fighting have ravaged Gaza.

Israel’s aerial assaults and ground invasion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly 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's unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 more were captured.

Israeli authorities claim it is attempting to dismantle the armed and administrative capacities of the militant organization, which is committed to the elimination of Israel 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 halt hostilities at once. Hamas has agreed to free all remaining hostages - alive and dead - and to hand over control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to laying down arms or to giving up 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 - surrounded on three sides by closed borders with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, where a naval blockade is enforced by Israel. It is home to over two million residents.

Scale of Destruction

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 starvation 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 findings of the commission, labeling it as "inaccurate and misleading".

This graphic overview shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

Expansion of Damage

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

The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was among the initial locations hit by Israeli strikes. It experienced severe destruction.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities in the north and ordered civilians to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion at the end of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted air strikes on the urban areas in the south which numerous Gaza residents from the north were fleeing towards. By the close 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 initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by January 2024 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in early 2025 an approximately 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, according to 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 residential buildings in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Crisis

Throughout the war, the militant group - which is designated as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions affiliated with it have been engaged in intense battles 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, entire districts have been razed to the ground, medical facilities and places of worship have been obliterated and agricultural land where greenhouses previously existed have been reduced to sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used for destruction by Israeli troops.

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

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 the city of Gaza.

In just 10 days of 7 October 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to abandon their residences, as per 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 internally displaced - they continue to be unable to go back.

Families have moved multiple times as Israel changed the emphasis of their campaign, initially telling people in the north to move south of Wadi Gaza river, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and subsequently directing people to leave a series of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli army alerted residents to leave ahead of operations in the area. However, not every Israeli attack are preceded by warnings.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated an increasing number of regions 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.

At first 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 coordinate with the Israeli government to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any relief supplies from entering Gaza at the beginning of March - accusing Hamas of diverting it. Restricted assistance is now permitted to enter, although aid agencies still say it is nowhere near enough.

By the start of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been closed, the majority of fresh produce were in very limited supply and medical facilities were limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

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

The Israeli Defense Minister announced on April 16 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 troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was affected by Israeli restrictions - including 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 May, Israel launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would seek to secure the release of the 48 captives still held - 20 of whom are believed to be living - and "finish the destruction" of the militant organization.

Since then 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 the month of August Israel revealed intentions to capture and occupy the entire city of Gaza itself - which it has called the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most densely populated part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 people residing there.

Those who remained there were ordered to move 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 deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and unsafe.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have so far fled Gaza City, 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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