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24 months of fighting have devastated Gaza.

The Israeli aerial assaults and military incursion 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 says most homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The offensive came in response to Hamas's unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.

Israeli authorities claim it is attempting to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the Islamist group, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has been governing Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been put forward by US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - living and deceased - and to transfer Gaza’s governance to Palestinian technocrats, but it has not committed to disarmament or to giving up any political involvement in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is merely 41km in length and 10km in width - roughly one-fourth the area of London - bordered on three sides by sealed frontiers with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean coast to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. It is home to more than 2 million people.

Scale of Destruction

More than 90% of homes are believed to be destroyed or damaged; the medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure have broken down; 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 - even though Israel has rejected the commission’s report, labeling it as "distorted and false".

This graphic overview shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

Expansion of Damage

The Israeli operation initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed militants were hiding among the civilian population. The group refuted these allegations.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, a mere 2km from the border, was one of the first areas hit by Israeli strikes. It sustained severe destruction.

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and ordered civilians to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion at the conclusion of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted air strikes on the southern cities 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 a large portion of the north.

Israeli forces escalated its airstrikes on the southern and central regions at the start of December, before initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by January 2024 more than half of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in January 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 killed, according to the Gaza health authority.

And the destruction 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

During the conflict, Hamas - which is classified as a terrorist organisation 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 fired thousands of rockets into Israel, particularly during the initial phase of the war.

But in Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been obliterated and agricultural land where greenhouses previously existed have been turned into sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used for demolitions by Israeli troops.

Israel says Hamas uses non-military structures such as medical centers for military purposes - but the group denies these claims.

Before the war, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its primary urban centers - Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah, in the centre, and the city of Gaza.

Within 10 days of October 7, 2023, Israel’s offensive had forced nearly half to abandon their residences, 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 remain unable to return home.

Families have moved repeatedly as Israel changed 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 evacuate a series of "safe zones" in the south.

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

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated an increasing number of regions of Gaza as prohibited areas - where limitations are enforced - or making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed 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 entire frontier.

Aid agencies have to coordinate with the Israeli government to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the start of March - accusing Hamas of diverting it. Limited aid 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, most fresh vegetables were in very limited supply and hospitals were limiting distribution of medications and antibiotics.

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

The Israeli Defense Minister announced on 16 April that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was affected by limitations imposed by Israel - including most of the 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 initiated a land operation named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would aim to secure the release of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of which are believed to be living - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

Since then the regions affected by evacuation directives and limitations have been expanded to include 82 percent of the territory, according to the UN.

The first phase of the operation focused on targets in Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza 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 crowded part of the territory before the war, with 775,000 residents residing 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 overpopulated and dangerous.

Numerous residents have thus far evacuated 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 severe living conditions, with medical and vital services collapsing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including