The ruin of Gaza: how Israel’s two-year assault has devastated the territory | Gaza

The devastating war in Gaza has entered its third year, standing as Israel’s longest war since the 1948 conflict that led to the country’s creation.

The majority of those killed by Israel’s offensive in the strip have been civilians, and the overall total now exceeds 67,000. Entire families have been wiped out in a single airstrike. Sometimes, only a single individual, frequently a child, is left alive. There are also nearly 170,000 injured. In all, casualties amount to roughly 10% of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

There may well be many more dead uncounted in the rubble that now covers much of Gaza. Those killed by untreated illnesses, poor nutrition, suicide or other causes linked to the conflict are more numerous still. Thousands of people have simply disappeared – lost, incinerated or blown apart by explosions, or held in secret detention by Israel.

Israel has controlled and restricted supplies going into Gaza throughout the conflict but imposed a total blockade of supplies from March to May 2025, saying that Hamas was stealing assistance to pay for its military operations. Though restrictions were eventually eased amid international outrage, famine was declared in parts of Gaza in August.

The impact of Israel’s offensive on Gaza has led to accusations of genocide, which Israel has denied. In September, independent experts working for the UN high commissioner for human rights said that the death toll and destruction in Gaza met its criteria for a genocide. This, too, was challenged by Israel.

The war, triggered by a Hamas raid into Israel on 7 October 2023 which killed approximately 1,200 people and took a further 251 as hostages, has devastated Gaza, in physical and human terms. Almost all Palestinians in the territory have been displaced, usually many times. Entire cities have been reduced to dust and broken concrete. Witnesses of attacks, or victims of the violence around some food distribution sites, or medics in overwhelmed hospitals describe “post-apocalyptic landscapes” or “hell on earth”.

Below is a summary of the cost of the war for Gaza and its people.

Dead and wounded

67,074

Palestinians killed in Gaza

168,716

Palestinians injured in Gaza

More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed inside Gaza by Israeli attacks. Most are civilians. At least 20,000 are children – about 2% of Gaza’s child population.

More than 168,000 have been wounded, many suffering injuries of a type and scale more usually associated with professional soldiers in intense combat, according to one recent medical study.

Many other Palestinians have been killed by hunger, lack of shelter and medication, accidents, the rapid spread of infectious diseases and the collapse of the healthcare system. Life expectancy in Gaza may have decreased by up to a half in the first year of the conflict, according to a study in the respected medical journal the Lancet.

Israeli officials have previously questioned the death toll given by the authorities in Gaza, saying that because Hamas controls the government there, Gaza’s health officials cannot provide reliable figures.

But in September the former Israeli army commander Herzi Halevi said more than 200,000 Palestinians had been killed or injured in the war in Gaza . Leaked Israeli military intelligence data on casualties until May this year suggested that more than 80% of the dead were civilians. “This isn’t a gentle war. We took the gloves off from the first minute,” Halevi said.

Destruction and displacement

436,000

Homes damaged or destroyed (92% of total)

2.1 million

Palestinians displaced in Gaza (95% of the population)

Israel’s campaign of intense aerial bombing and deliberate tactic of razing territory its troops have seized has led to 78% of Gaza’s estimated 250,000 buildings being damaged or destroyed, generating 61m tonnes of debris, of which about 15% may be contaminated with asbestos, industrial waste or heavy metals.

More than 80% of Gaza’s territory is estimated to be currently under an Israeli military evacuation order or combat zone, or otherwise barred to Palestinians. Most recently, the Israeli offensive into Gaza City, where large numbers of those displaced from elsewhere were sheltering, forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

In all, aid agencies estimate that about 2.1 million people have been displaced, 95% of the population. “This is a traumatic, violent process, often repeated again and again. There are people who have lost absolutely everything,” said James Elder of Unicef last week.

Hundreds of thousands of people now live in tent cities and severely overcrowded shelters with poor sanitation and access to little clean water, including in al-Mawasi in the south.

Currently, 1 million people cannot access six litres of drinking water a day, while 500,000 people exist on less than nine litres, just over a tenth of what was available before the war.

Medieval mosques, Ottoman-era markets, churches and ancient sites have all suffered massive damage or been entirely destroyed.

Schools and education

518

Schools damaged or destroyed (90% of schools)

745,000

Children and university-age students out of formal education

Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school for more than two academic years, including 88,000 higher education students who have been forced to put their studies on hold.

Gaza’s educational infrastructure has been more or less destroyed: more than 90% of school buildings, 79% of higher education campuses and 60% of vocational training centres have been damaged or destroyed.

Schools run by the Unrwa agency have been converted into emergency shelters. They host large numbers of displaced people and are clearly marked on maps, but many have been bombed by Israel, with some targeted repeatedly.

Israel says strikes targeted Hamas fighters, claiming they shelter in the buildings and use civilian residents as human shields.

Hospitals and healthcare

654

Attacks on healthcare facilities during the war

More than 1,700

Health workers killed

As of last month, just 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were even partly functional. Sixteen field hospitals in southern Gaza set up by NGOs and foreign governments provide some replacement care, but these and remaining facilities are often overwhelmed. Bed occupancy reached 240% capacity in al-Shifa hospital and 300% at al-Ahli hospital, both in northern Gaza, medics there reported in late September.

Almost all hospitals have sustained some damage from Israeli strikes and one was entirely demolished by the Israeli military. The World Health Organization reported 735 attacks by Israeli forces on healthcare in Gaza from 7 October 2023 to 11 June 2025, killing 917 people and injuring 1,411. Medics and paramedics were killed, injured, detained and tortured by Israeli forces.

Medical officials in Gaza said Israel’s restrictions on medicine entering Gaza meant that many essential treatments were unavailable and equipment unusable, leaving them even less prepared to deal with those injured in the war, or suffering from diseases caused or compounded by lack of shelter, food and clean water.

Hunger and aid shortages

400

Malnutrition-related deaths

According to the UN, 400 malnutrition-related deaths, including those of 101 children, have been documented since the beginning of the conflict, most in recent months. Tens of thousands of children are now on emergency feeding programmes. In August, UN-backed experts declared a famine in parts of Gaza. Aid workers said in October that most pregnant mothers in Gaza were eating one meal a day.

Israel has imposed tight restrictions on aid entering Gaza throughout the conflict, and its destruction of agricultural production inside the territory has led to scarcity. Any improvement during the brief ceasefire from January to March, when restrictions were lifted, was reversed when Israel unilaterally resumed hostilities and blocked all supplies for two months until, in mid-May, controls were eased again.

The controversial Israel-and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was set up to hand out food, but this led to more than a thousand deaths under Israeli fire. Much aid delivered into Gaza has been looted by gangs and desperate, hungry crowds. The produce and goods now available in markets is unaffordable for most of the population.

Israel says it does not limit aid shipments and blamed logistics failures at aid agencies, or Hamas theft of food aid, for any shortages.

Environment

1.5%

Proportion of Gaza cropland that can be farmed

Since 2023, the Gaza Strip has lost 97% of its tree crops, 95% of its shrubland and 82% of its annual crops, making food production at scale impossible. The destruction will have long-term impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, food security and the health of residents, ecologists and academics say.

In August, new UN figures showed that only 1.5% of cropland was accessible and suitable for cultivation. Toxic residue from munitions and fires has polluted the soil and water supplies.

Since October 2023, Mine Action partners have documented 132 explosive ordnance incidents that killed 47 people, including at least 14 children, and injured 249 people, including at least 71 children.

“The situation is going from bad to worse. If this continues, it will leave a legacy of environmental destruction that could affect the health and wellbeing of generations of Gaza residents,” said a United Nations report last week.