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Two years of conflict have devastated Gaza.

The Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly the entire population has been forced to move, and the UN states the majority of residences have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The offensive came in response to Hamas’ unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were slain 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 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 end the fighting immediately. The group has consented to free all remaining hostages - living and deceased - and to hand over Gaza’s governance to Palestinian technocrats, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is merely 41km in length and 10km in width - about a quarter of the size of London - bordered 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 home to more than 2 million people.

Extent of Damage

Over nine out of ten residences are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have broken down; and UN-backed experts say there is starvation in Gaza City.

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israeli officials have dismissed the commission’s report, labeling it as "distorted and false".

This visual guide shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.

Expansion of Damage

Israel's campaign first targeted northern Gaza - where it claimed militants were hiding among the non-combatant residents. 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 struck by Israeli strikes. It sustained severe destruction.

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and instructed residents to move south of the Wadi Gaza river before it initiated its land offensive at the end of October 2023.

But Israel was also launching aerial bombardments on the southern cities which numerous Gaza residents from the north were fleeing towards. By the end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did much of the north.

Israel intensified its bombing of the southern and central regions at the beginning of December, before initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by January 2024 more than half of Gaza's buildings had been destroyed or damaged.

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

And the devastation has continued since the truce was terminated by Israel in the month of March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN calculates over 90% of the housing units in Gaza have been affected during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

During the conflict, the militant group - which is designated as a terror group by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and additional factions allied to it have been involved in fierce combat against Israeli troops on the ground. They have also launched numerous projectiles into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.

But in Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed and agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to debris and dust by heavy vehicles and tanks used for destruction by Israeli soldiers.

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

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

Within 10 days of October 7, 2023, the Israeli military campaign had forced nearly half to leave their homes, as per the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

And by the time the truce was implemented 15 months later, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been internally displaced - they remain unable to return home.

Families have moved repeatedly as Israel changed the focus of its operation, first instructing people in the north to move south of Wadi Gaza river, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and subsequently directing people to leave a number of "safe zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli army warned people to leave ahead of operations in the area. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by warnings.

Restricted Areas Grow

After the truce was terminated, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as prohibited areas - where limitations are enforced - or imposing displacement orders, meaning residents have been instructed to evacuate entirely.

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 whole border.

Humanitarian organizations have to co-ordinate with the Israeli government to operate in the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any humanitarian aid from entering the territory at the beginning of March - alleging that Hamas was diverting it. Restricted assistance is now allowed in, although aid agencies still say it is nowhere near enough.

By the beginning of April every bakery supported by the UN in Gaza had been shut down, the majority of fresh produce were in extremely short supply and medical facilities were rationing medications and antibiotics.

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

Israel’s defence minister declared on 16 April that Israel would establish protected areas in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to protect Israeli communities even after the war ended - Hamas has insisted that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

During that period almost 70% of Gaza was impacted by Israeli restrictions - including 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 Netanyahu said would aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 captives still held - 20 of which are believed to be living - and "complete the defeat" of the Palestinian armed group.

Since then the regions affected 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 northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah 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 densely populated part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 people living there.

Those who remained there were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has classified as a “humanitarian area” - despite the fact that it has continued to carry out deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and unsafe.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have so far fled Gaza City, where a starvation was verified 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