Gaza War in Visualizations After 24 Months of Hostilities

Two years of conflict have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s aerial assaults and military incursion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, almost the whole populace has been forced to move, and the UN says the majority of residences have been damaged or destroyed.

The offensive came in response to Hamas's 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 trying to destroy the military and governing capabilities of the militant organization, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction and has been governing 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 - alive and dead - and to hand over control of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats, but it has refused to agree to disarmament or to relinquishing any future political role in the leadership of Gaza.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - 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.

Scale of Destruction

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 acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - although Israel has rejected the findings of the commission, labeling it as "inaccurate and misleading".

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

Expansion of Damage

The Israeli operation initially focused on northern Gaza - where it claimed militants were hiding among the civilian population. Hamas denied this.

The northern town of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the frontier, was one of the first areas struck by airstrikes. It sustained heavy damage.

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza City and other urban centres in the north and instructed residents to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza river before it launched its ground invasion 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 escaping to. By the end of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did much of the north.

Israeli forces escalated its bombing of 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 structures in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.

By the time a truce was announced in early 2025 an approximately 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been harmed, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. Over 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, as per Gaza's health ministry.

And the destruction has persisted since Israel ended the ceasefire in March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN calculates more than 90% of the residential buildings in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

Throughout the war, the militant group - which is classified as a terror group by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - 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, whole neighborhoods have been completely demolished, hospitals and mosques have been obliterated and agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been turned into debris and dust by armored vehicles and machinery used for destruction by Israeli soldiers.

Israeli authorities state militants utilize civilian buildings such as hospitals for armed operations - but the group denies these claims.

Before the war, the majority of Gaza’s population lived in its primary urban centers - Rafah and Khan Younis 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 compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

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

Families have moved multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the emphasis of their campaign, first instructing people in the north to move south of the Wadi Gaza waterway, 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 operations in the area. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by alerts.

Expansion of Restricted Zones

Since Israel ended the ceasefire, 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.

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 whole border.

Aid agencies have to co-ordinate with the Israeli government 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 insufficient.

By the start 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 humanitarian organization ActionAid cautioned that a "new cycle of starvation and thirst" loomed.

Israel’s defence minister declared on April 16 that Israel would set up protected areas in Gaza to create a protective barrier to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - Hamas has insisted that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.

At the time almost 70% of Gaza was impacted by limitations imposed by Israel - including most of the North Gaza and Gaza City governorates in the north and the whole of the Rafah governorate in the south, according to the UN.

And in the month of 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 whom are believed to be living - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the regions affected by displacement orders and other restrictions have been extended to cover 82% of Gaza, as per the UN.

The first phase of the campaign concentrated on targets in northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel revealed intentions to seize and control the entire city of Gaza itself - which it has referred to as the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most crowded part of the territory prior to the conflict, with 775,000 residents residing there.

Individuals who stayed behind were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the south west 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 unsafe.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have thus far evacuated Gaza City, where a starvation was verified in August 2025 by a UN-supported agency.

But hundreds of thousands more continue to stay in severe living conditions, with medical and vital services failing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including