Two years of fighting have devastated Gaza.
The Israeli aerial assaults and military incursion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, almost the entire population has been displaced, and the UN says most homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.
The military operation was launched after Hamas's unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were slain and 251 others were taken hostage.
Israeli authorities claim it is attempting to dismantle 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 Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would halt hostilities at once. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - living and deceased - and to hand over control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in the leadership of Gaza.
Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - roughly one-fourth the area of London - surrounded 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.
Extent of Damage
More than 90% of homes are estimated to be destroyed or damaged; the medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure have broken down; and experts supported by the UN say there is starvation in Gaza City.
A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israeli forces have perpetrated acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israel has rejected the findings of the commission, describing it as "distorted and false".
This visual guide shows how Gaza has turned into unlivable.
How the Destruction Spread
Israel's campaign first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed militants were concealed within the non-combatant residents. Hamas denied this.
The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, a mere 2km from the frontier, was among the initial locations struck by airstrikes. It sustained heavy damage.
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 initiated its land offensive at the conclusion of October 2023.
Simultaneously, Israel conducted aerial bombardments on the southern cities which hundreds of thousands of Gazans 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.
Israel intensified its bombing of southern and central Gaza at the start of December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 over 50% of structures in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.
By the time a ceasefire was declared in early 2025 an estimated 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been harmed, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been killed, as per Gaza's health ministry.
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 housing units in Gaza have been damaged during the war.
Humanitarian Crisis
Throughout the war, the militant group - which is classified as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and other armed groups affiliated with it have been engaged in fierce combat against Israeli troops on the ground. They have also launched numerous projectiles 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 turned into debris and dust by armored vehicles and machinery used for destruction by Israeli troops.
Israel says militants utilize non-military structures such as medical centers for armed operations - but Hamas denies that.
Prior to the conflict, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its primary urban centers - Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Deir al-Balah, 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, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.
And by the time the truce was implemented after 15 months, an estimated 1.9m people had been forcibly relocated - they continue to be unable to go back.
Households have relocated multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, first instructing people in the north to move south of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and subsequently directing people to leave a series of "safe zones" in the south.
Leaflet drops by the Israeli army alerted residents to evacuate before military actions in the region. However, not every Israeli attack are preceded by alerts.
Expansion of Restricted Zones
Since Israel ended the ceasefire, it has designated more and more areas of Gaza as no-go zones - where limitations are enforced - or imposing evacuation directives, meaning Gazans have been told to leave completely.
Initially the evacuation orders applied to two regions - 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 relief supplies from entering the territory at the beginning of March - accusing Hamas of commandeering it. Restricted assistance is now allowed in, 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, the majority of fresh produce were in very limited supply and hospitals were limiting distribution of medications and antibiotics.
The NGO ActionAid warned that a "new cycle of starvation and thirst" was imminent.
The Israeli Defense Minister declared on April 16 that Israel would set up security zones in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to protect Israeli communities following the conclusion of hostilities - Hamas has insisted that Israeli troops must pull out from Gaza under any lasting truce.
At the time nearly 70% of Gaza was affected by limitations imposed by Israel - encompassing most of the North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the whole of the 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 aim to obtain the freedom of the 48 captives still held - 20 of whom are believed to be living - and "finish the destruction" of the militant organization.
Since then the regions affected by evacuation directives and limitations have been extended to cover 82% of Gaza, according to the UN.
The first phase of the campaign focused on objectives within Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in August Israel revealed intentions to seize and control all of Gaza City itself - which it has called the “last stronghold” of Hamas.
The city had been the most crowded 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” - despite the fact that it has continued to carry out deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and unsafe.
Numerous residents have thus far evacuated Gaza City, where a famine was confirmed in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.
But many more thousands remain there in dire humanitarian conditions, with health and other essential services failing.
International Response
In September 2025, several countries, {including
