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Two years of conflict have ravaged Gaza.

Israel’s 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 says the majority of residences have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The military operation came in response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel says it is trying to destroy the armed and administrative capacities of the Islamist group, which is committed to the elimination of Israel and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A peace plan has been put forward by American 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 hand over control of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats, but it has refused to agree to laying down arms or to giving up any political involvement in the leadership of Gaza.

Gaza is merely 41km in length and 10km in width - roughly one-fourth the area of London - surrounded on three sides by sealed frontiers with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. It is inhabited by over two million residents.

Extent of Damage

Over nine out of ten residences are estimated to be destroyed or damaged; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have broken down; 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 commission’s report, describing it as "distorted and false".

This graphic overview shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed Hamas fighters were concealed within 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 struck by airstrikes. It sustained heavy damage.

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted 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 end of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted air strikes on the urban areas in the south which numerous Gaza residents from the north were escaping to. By the end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did much of the north.

Israel intensified its airstrikes on southern and central Gaza 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 January 2025 an estimated 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, according to the Gaza health authority.

And the devastation 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 Crisis

During the conflict, the militant group - which is designated as a terror group by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions affiliated with it have been engaged in intense battles against Israeli forces 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 completely demolished, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed and farmland where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to debris and dust by armored vehicles and machinery used for demolitions by Israeli soldiers.

Israeli authorities state Hamas uses non-military structures such as hospitals for armed operations - but Hamas denies that.

Prior to the conflict, most of Gaza's 2.1 million people lived in its four main cities - Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Deir al-Balah city, in the centre, and Gaza City.

Within 10 days of 7 October 2023, Israel’s offensive had forced nearly half to abandon their residences, as per the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the truce was implemented 15 months later, an estimated 1.9m people had been internally displaced - 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 later ordering people to leave a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli military alerted residents to evacuate before operations in the area. 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 no-go zones - where restrictions are in place - or imposing evacuation directives, meaning Gazans have been told to evacuate entirely.

Initially 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.

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 the territory at the start of March - alleging that Hamas was diverting it. Restricted assistance is now allowed in, although relief groups still say it is insufficient.

By the start of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been closed, most fresh vegetables were in very limited supply and medical facilities were rationing medications and antibiotics.

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

The Israeli Defense Minister declared 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 - Hamas has insisted that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.

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

And in the month of May, Israel initiated a land operation named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Netanyahu said would aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are thought to be alive - and "finish the destruction" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the areas covered by displacement orders and other restrictions have been expanded to include 82% of Gaza, as per the UN.

The first phase of the operation concentrated on objectives within Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in the month of August Israel announced plans to capture and occupy the entire city of Gaza 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 living there.

Individuals who stayed behind were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the south west of the Strip which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian area” - despite the fact that it has persisted in conducting lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and dangerous.

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

But many more thousands remain there in severe living conditions, with health and other essential services failing.

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