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24 months of fighting have ravaged Gaza.

The Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, nearly the entire population has been displaced, and the UN states the majority of residences have been damaged or destroyed.

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 captured.

Israeli authorities claim it is trying to destroy the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been put forward by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. 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 relinquishing any future political role in the leadership of Gaza.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - about a quarter of the size of London - bordered 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 inhabited by more than 2 million people.

Scale of Destruction

More than 90% of homes are believed to be damaged or destroyed; 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 Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israel has rejected the findings of the commission, labeling it as "inaccurate and misleading".

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

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it said militants were hiding among the civilian population. Hamas denied this.

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

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities 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 southern cities which hundreds of thousands of Gazans from the north were fleeing towards. By the end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did a large portion of the north.

Israel intensified its bombing of the southern and central regions at the beginning of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 over 50% of structures in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in early 2025 an approximately 60% of buildings across the Gaza Strip had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, as per the Gaza health authority.

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

Humanitarian Catastrophe

Throughout the war, Hamas - which is classified as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions allied to it have been engaged in intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also fired thousands of rockets into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.

But in Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, medical facilities and places of worship have been destroyed and farmland where greenhouses once stood have been turned into debris and dust by armored vehicles and machinery used for destruction by Israeli troops.

Israeli authorities state Hamas uses civilian buildings such as medical centers for military purposes - 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 city, in the centre, and Gaza City.

In just 10 days of 7 October 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, as per the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

And by the time the ceasefire was declared after 15 months, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been forcibly relocated - they continue to be unable to go back.

Households have relocated repeatedly as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, 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 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 warnings.

Restricted Areas Grow

After the truce was terminated, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as prohibited areas - where limitations are enforced - or making them subject to displacement orders, meaning Gazans have been told to evacuate entirely.

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

Humanitarian organizations have to coordinate with the Israeli authorities to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any relief supplies from entering Gaza at the start of March - accusing Hamas of commandeering it. Limited aid is now permitted to enter, although aid agencies 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 painkillers and antibiotics.

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

Israel’s defence minister declared on April 16 that Israel would establish security zones in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - Hamas has insisted that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was affected by limitations imposed by Israel - 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 the month of May, Israel launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which the Prime Minister stated would seek to secure the release of the 48 captives still held - 20 of which are thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the areas covered by displacement orders and other restrictions have been expanded to include 82 percent of the territory, according to the UN.

The initial stage of the operation focused on targets in Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in the month of August Israel revealed intentions to seize and control all of Gaza City itself - which it has referred to as the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most densely populated part of the territory before the war, with 775,000 people residing there.

Individuals who stayed behind were instructed to relocate south to al-Mawasi in the south west of the Strip which Israel has classified as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has continued to carry out lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have thus far evacuated Gaza City, where a famine was confirmed in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

But many more thousands continue to stay in dire humanitarian conditions, with medical and vital services failing.

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