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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 as reported by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, nearly 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's unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were killed and 251 more were taken hostage.

Israel says it is attempting to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is committed to the elimination of Israel and has been governing Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been put forward by American President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. The group has consented to free all remaining hostages - alive and dead - and to hand over control of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats, but it has not committed to laying down arms or to relinquishing any political involvement in Gaza’s leadership.

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 Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean coast to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. 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 UN-backed experts say there is starvation in Gaza City.

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israeli forces have perpetrated acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israel has rejected the findings of the commission, labeling it as "inaccurate and misleading".

This visual guide shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

How the Destruction Spread

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

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was one of the first areas struck by airstrikes. It experienced heavy damage.

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and additional cities 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.

But Israel was also launching 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 a large portion of the north.

Israeli forces escalated its bombing of the southern and central regions at the beginning of December, before initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 more than half of structures in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in early 2025 an estimated 60% of buildings across the Gaza Strip had been harmed, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, according to the Gaza health authority.

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

Humanitarian Crisis

During the conflict, the militant group - which is designated as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and other armed groups affiliated with it have been involved in fierce combat 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, whole neighborhoods have been razed to the ground, medical facilities and places of worship have been obliterated and farmland where greenhouses once stood have been turned into debris and dust by heavy vehicles and tanks used for destruction by Israeli troops.

Israeli authorities state militants utilize civilian buildings such as hospitals for armed operations - but Hamas denies that.

Before the war, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its four main cities - 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, Israel’s offensive had compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, as per the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

And by the time the truce was implemented 15 months later, an estimated 1.9m people had been internally displaced - they remain unable to return home.

Households have relocated multiple times as Israel changed the emphasis of their campaign, first instructing people in the north to move south of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and later ordering people to evacuate a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli military warned people 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 an increasing number of regions of Gaza as prohibited areas - where restrictions are in place - or imposing displacement orders, meaning residents have been instructed to leave completely.

Initially the evacuation orders applied to 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 co-ordinate with the Israeli authorities to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the beginning of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Limited aid is now allowed in, although aid agencies still say it is insufficient.

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

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

The Israeli Defense Minister declared on April 16 that Israel would set up security zones in Gaza to create a protective barrier to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

During that period nearly 70% of Gaza was affected by Israeli restrictions - 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 launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which the Prime Minister stated would aim to obtain the freedom 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% of Gaza, as per the UN.

The first phase of the campaign focused on objectives within Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in the month of August Israel announced plans 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 prior to the conflict, with 775,000 people residing there.

Those who remained there were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has continued to carry out deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overcrowded 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 many more thousands remain there in dire humanitarian conditions, with medical and vital services failing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including