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Two years of fighting have devastated Gaza.

The Israeli bombing campaign and military incursion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, almost the entire population has been forced to move, and the UN says most homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The offensive came in response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were slain and 251 others were captured.

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

A ceasefire proposal has been proposed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. Hamas has agreed to release all captives - living and deceased - and to transfer control of Gaza to independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - roughly one-fourth the area of London - surrounded on three sides by closed borders with Egypt and Israel and by the Mediterranean coast to the west, where Israel imposes a blockade. It is home to 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 United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - although Israel has rejected the findings of the commission, describing it as "distorted and false".

This graphic overview shows how Gaza has turned into uninhabitable.

How the Destruction Spread

Israel's campaign initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it said Hamas fighters were concealed within the civilian population. The group refuted these allegations.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the frontier, was one of the first areas hit by Israeli strikes. 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 launched its ground invasion at the conclusion of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted air strikes on the urban areas in the south which hundreds of thousands of Gazans 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 launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 more than half of structures in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a ceasefire was declared in January 2025 an estimated 60% of buildings across the Gaza Strip had been damaged, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, according to Gaza's health ministry.

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

Humanitarian Crisis

Throughout the war, Hamas - which is designated as a terror group by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and other armed groups allied to it have been involved in fierce combat against Israeli troops on the ground. They have also fired thousands of rockets 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 farmland where greenhouses once stood have been turned into debris and dust by heavy vehicles and tanks used for destruction by Israeli troops.

Israel says Hamas uses civilian buildings such as medical centers for military purposes - but Hamas denies that.

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

Within 10 days of 7 October 2023, the Israeli military campaign had forced nearly half to abandon their residences, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

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

Households have relocated repeatedly as Israeli forces shifted the focus of its operation, first instructing people in the north to relocate southward of Wadi Gaza river, which divides Gaza approximately in two, and later ordering people to evacuate a series of "safe zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli military alerted residents to leave ahead of military actions in the region. 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 prohibited areas - where restrictions are in place - or imposing displacement orders, meaning residents have been instructed to evacuate entirely.

At first the orders to evacuate covered 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.

Israel had also blocked any relief supplies from entering the territory at the start of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Limited aid is now allowed in, although aid agencies still say it is insufficient.

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 limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

The humanitarian organization ActionAid warned that a "renewed period of hunger and dehydration" loomed.

The Israeli Defense Minister announced on 16 April that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to safeguard Israeli towns following the conclusion of hostilities - the group has demanded that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

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 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 the Prime Minister stated would seek 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 areas covered by displacement orders and other restrictions have been expanded to include 82% of Gaza, according to the UN.

The initial stage of the operation concentrated on targets in Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza but in the month of August Israel announced plans to capture and occupy all of Gaza City itself - which it has referred to as 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 residing there.

Individuals who stayed behind were instructed to relocate 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 lethal attacks there and which the UN said was already overpopulated and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have so far fled the city of Gaza, where a famine was confirmed in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

But hundreds of thousands more remain there in dire humanitarian conditions, with health and other essential services failing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including