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Two years of conflict have devastated Gaza.

The Israeli bombing campaign and military incursion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians as reported by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, nearly the entire population has been forced to move, 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 killed and 251 more were captured.

Israeli authorities claim it is attempting to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is dedicated to the elimination of Israel and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been put forward by American President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. The group has consented to release all captives - living and deceased - and to hand over control of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in Gaza’s leadership.

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 Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, where a naval blockade is enforced by Israel. It is inhabited by over two million residents.

Extent of Damage

More than 90% of homes are believed to be damaged or destroyed; the medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure have collapsed; and UN-backed experts say there is famine in Gaza City.

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israeli forces have perpetrated genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israeli officials have dismissed the findings of the commission, labeling it as "distorted and false".

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

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign initially focused on northern 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 other urban centres in the north and instructed residents to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion at the conclusion of October 2023.

But Israel was also launching air strikes on the southern cities 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 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in January 2025 an estimated 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, according to Gaza's health ministry.

And the devastation has continued since the truce was terminated by Israel in March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN estimates over 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Crisis

Throughout the war, Hamas - which is classified as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and other armed groups allied to it have been engaged in intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also launched numerous projectiles into Israel, particularly during the initial phase of the war.

However, within Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been obliterated and farmland where greenhouses previously existed have been reduced to sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used for destruction by Israeli soldiers.

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 city, in the centre, and Gaza City.

In just 10 days of October 7, 2023, the Israeli military campaign had forced nearly half to abandon their residences, as per the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the ceasefire was declared after 15 months, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been internally displaced - they remain unable to return home.

Households have relocated multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, initially telling people in the north to move south of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which cuts the Strip roughly in half, and later ordering people to evacuate a number of "safe zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli military warned people to leave ahead of military actions in the region. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by alerts.

Restricted Areas Grow

After the truce was terminated, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as prohibited areas - where restrictions are in place - or making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning Gazans have been told to evacuate entirely.

At first the evacuation orders 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 government to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any relief supplies from entering the territory at the start of March - accusing Hamas of commandeering it. Limited aid is now allowed in, 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, most fresh vegetables were in very limited supply and hospitals were rationing painkillers and antibiotics.

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

Israel’s defence minister announced on 16 April that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

At the time nearly 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 entire Rafah governorate in the south, according to the UN.

And in the month of May, Israel launched a land operation named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 captives still held - 20 of whom are thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the regions affected 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 campaign concentrated on targets in Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in the month of August Israel revealed intentions to seize and control the entire city of Gaza 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 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 classified as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has persisted in conducting deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and dangerous.

Numerous residents have thus far evacuated the city of Gaza, where a famine was confirmed in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

But many more thousands remain there in severe living conditions, with medical and vital services failing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including