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Two years of fighting have ravaged Gaza.

The Israeli aerial assaults and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-run health authority, nearly the whole populace has been displaced, and the UN says most homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

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

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

A peace plan has been put forward by US President Donald Trump and Israeli 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 Gaza’s governance to independent Palestinian experts, but it has refused to agree to laying down arms or to relinquishing any political involvement in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - about a quarter of the size of London - surrounded on three sides by closed borders 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

Over nine out of ten residences are estimated to be destroyed or damaged; the medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure have collapsed; and UN-backed experts say there is famine in Gaza City.

A UN investigative commission says Israeli forces have perpetrated genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israel has rejected 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

The Israeli operation initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed Hamas fighters were hiding among the non-combatant residents. Hamas denied this.

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

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and additional cities in the north and instructed residents to relocate southward 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 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 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 structures in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in January 2025 an approximately 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been harmed, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, as per the Gaza health authority.

And the devastation has persisted since the truce was terminated by Israel in March - including in Rafah in the south. The UN estimates over 90% of the residential buildings in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

During the conflict, Hamas - which is designated as a terror group by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions affiliated with it have been involved in intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also launched numerous projectiles into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.

But in Gaza, whole neighborhoods have been razed to the ground, medical facilities and places of worship have been obliterated and agricultural land where greenhouses previously existed have been reduced to debris and dust by heavy vehicles and tanks used for demolitions by Israeli soldiers.

Israeli authorities state militants utilize civilian buildings such as medical centers for military purposes - but the group denies these claims.

Before the war, most of Gaza's 2.1 million people lived in its primary urban centers - Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah city, in the centre, and the city of Gaza.

In just 10 days of 7 October 2023, the Israeli military campaign had forced nearly half to leave their homes, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

And by the time the ceasefire was declared 15 months later, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been forcibly relocated - they continue to be unable to go back.

Households have relocated multiple times as Israel changed the focus of its operation, initially telling people in the north to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and subsequently directing people to leave a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Leaflet drops by the Israeli military alerted residents to evacuate before military actions in the region. However, not every Israeli attack are preceded by warnings.

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 imposing displacement orders, meaning residents have been instructed to evacuate entirely.

Initially 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 authorities to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the start of March - accusing Hamas of diverting it. Limited aid is now allowed in, although relief groups still say it is nowhere near enough.

By the start of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been shut down, the majority of fresh produce 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" was imminent.

The Israeli Defense Minister declared on 16 April that Israel would establish security zones in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to safeguard Israeli towns 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 limitations imposed by Israel - 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 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 captives still held - 20 of whom are thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" 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 the month of August Israel announced plans 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 people living 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” - despite the fact that it has persisted in conducting lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of 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 continue to stay in dire humanitarian conditions, with medical and vital services collapsing.

International Response

In September 2025, multiple nations, {including