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Two years of fighting have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s aerial assaults and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly the entire population has been forced to move, and the UN says 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 slain and 251 others were captured.

Israel says it is attempting to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A peace plan 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 Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - roughly one-fourth the area of London - bordered on three sides by sealed frontiers with Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean coast 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 broken down; and experts supported by the UN say there is famine in Gaza City.

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

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

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign first targeted northern Gaza - where it claimed Hamas fighters were hiding among the civilian population. The group refuted these allegations.

The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was one of the first areas hit by Israeli strikes. It sustained severe destruction.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities 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.

But Israel was also launching aerial bombardments on the urban areas in the south 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 much 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 over 50% of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in early 2025 an estimated 60% of buildings across the Gaza Strip had been harmed, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, as per the Gaza health authority.

And the destruction has continued since Israel ended the ceasefire in the month of March - including in Rafah in the south. The UN calculates over 90% of the residential buildings in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

Throughout the war, the militant group - which is designated as a terror group by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and additional factions affiliated with it have been involved 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.

However, within Gaza, whole neighborhoods have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been obliterated and agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used for demolitions by Israeli troops.

Israel says Hamas uses non-military structures such as hospitals for armed operations - but the group denies these claims.

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 city, in the centre, and Gaza City.

Within 10 days of October 7, 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, as per the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the ceasefire was declared after 15 months, an estimated 1.9m people had been forcibly relocated - they remain unable to return home.

Households have relocated repeatedly as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, initially telling people in the north to move south of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and later ordering people to leave a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli military alerted residents to leave ahead of military actions in the region. However, not every Israeli attack are preceded by alerts.

Restricted Areas Grow

Since Israel ended the ceasefire, it has designated an increasing number of regions of Gaza as prohibited areas - where limitations are enforced - or imposing evacuation directives, meaning Gazans have been told to leave completely.

Initially the orders to evacuate 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 coordinate with the Israeli authorities to work within the "no-go" areas.

Israeli forces had also prevented any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the start of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Restricted assistance 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 extremely short supply and hospitals were rationing medications and antibiotics.

The NGO ActionAid cautioned that a "renewed period of hunger and dehydration" was imminent.

Israel’s defence minister declared on April 16 that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to protect Israeli communities following the conclusion of hostilities - the group has demanded that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

During that period nearly 70% of Gaza was impacted 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 launched a ground offensive named Operation Gideon's Chariots, which the Prime Minister stated would seek to obtain the freedom of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are thought to be alive - and "finish the destruction" of the Palestinian armed group.

From that point onward the regions affected by displacement orders and other restrictions have been extended to cover 82 percent of the territory, according to the UN.

The first phase of the operation concentrated on objectives within northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel announced plans to seize and control all of Gaza City itself - which it has called the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most densely populated part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 residents living there.

Those who remained there were instructed to relocate 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 lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and unsafe.

Numerous residents have so far fled Gaza City, 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