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Two years of fighting have devastated Gaza.

The Israeli aerial assaults and military incursion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities according to the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly the entire population has been displaced, and the UN states the majority of residences have been damaged or destroyed.

The military operation was launched after Hamas’ unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were slain and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israeli authorities claim it is trying to destroy 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 proposed by American President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. The group has consented 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 disarmament or to giving up any political involvement 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 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.

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 UN-backed experts say there is starvation in Gaza City.

A UN investigative commission says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israeli officials have dismissed the commission’s report, labeling it as "inaccurate and misleading".

This visual guide shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

Expansion of Damage

The Israeli operation first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed militants were concealed within the civilian population. Hamas denied this.

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

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities 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 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.

Israeli forces escalated its bombing of the southern and central regions at the start of December, before initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been destroyed or damaged.

By the time a truce was announced in early 2025 an estimated 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, 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 calculates more than 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

Throughout the war, the militant group - which is classified 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 troops 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 completely demolished, 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 demolitions by Israeli troops.

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

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

Within 10 days of October 7, 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 forcibly relocated - they continue to be unable to go back.

Families have moved multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, first instructing people in the north to relocate southward of Wadi Gaza river, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and subsequently directing people to evacuate a series of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli military alerted residents to evacuate before operations in the area. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by alerts.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as no-go zones - where limitations are enforced - or imposing evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed to evacuate entirely.

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 co-ordinate with the Israeli authorities to operate in the "no-go" areas.

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

By the start of April every bakery supported by the UN in Gaza had been shut down, most fresh vegetables were in very limited supply and hospitals were rationing medications and antibiotics.

The humanitarian organization ActionAid cautioned that a "new cycle of starvation and thirst" loomed.

Israel’s defence minister announced on 16 April that Israel would establish protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - the group has demanded that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.

During that period nearly 70% of Gaza was affected by Israeli restrictions - encompassing most of the North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the entire Rafah governorate in the south, as reported by the UN.

And in May, Israel initiated a land operation named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would seek to secure the release of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward 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 targets in northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel revealed intentions to capture and occupy all of Gaza City itself - which it has referred to as 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 south west 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.

Numerous residents have so far fled 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.

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In September 2025, multiple nations, {including