Gaza Strip War in Maps Following 24 Months of Hostilities

24 months of conflict have ravaged Gaza.

The Israeli aerial assaults and ground invasion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, nearly the entire population has been forced to move, and the UN states most homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The military operation was launched after Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel says it is trying to destroy the armed and administrative capacities of the Islamist group, which is dedicated to the elimination of Israel and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A peace plan has been put forward by US President Donald Trump and Israel’s 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 independent Palestinian experts, but it has not committed to disarmament or to relinquishing any political involvement in Gaza’s leadership.

Gaza is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide - roughly one-fourth the area of London - bordered on three sides by closed borders with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, where a naval blockade is enforced by Israel. It is home to more than 2 million people.

Scale of Destruction

More than 90% of homes are estimated to be destroyed or damaged; the medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure have broken down; and UN-backed experts say there is famine in Gaza City.

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israeli forces have perpetrated 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.

How the Destruction Spread

The Israeli operation initially focused on the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed Hamas fighters were concealed within the civilian population. Hamas denied this.

The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was one of the first areas hit by Israeli strikes. It sustained heavy damage.

Israel continued to bomb 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 conclusion of October 2023.

Simultaneously, Israel conducted aerial bombardments on the southern cities which numerous Gaza residents from the north were fleeing towards. By the close of November, parts of the south of the territory lay in ruins, as did a large portion of the north.

Israel intensified its airstrikes on southern and central Gaza at the start of December, before initiating a land assault on Khan Younis, and by the start of 2024 more than half of structures in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.

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 Israel ended the ceasefire 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, Hamas - which is designated as a terror group by Israel, the UK and many other countries - and other armed groups allied to it have been involved in intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They have also fired thousands of rockets into Israel, especially in the first months of the war.

However, within Gaza, entire districts have been razed to the ground, 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 demolitions by Israeli troops.

Israel says militants utilize civilian buildings such as medical centers for military purposes - but the group denies these claims.

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 October 7, 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 approximately 1.9 million individuals had been internally displaced - they remain unable to return home.

Families have moved multiple times as Israeli forces shifted the emphasis of their campaign, initially telling people in the north to relocate southward of the Wadi Gaza waterway, which cuts the Strip roughly in half, and subsequently directing people to leave a number of "safe zones" in the south.

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

Expansion of Restricted Zones

After the truce was terminated, it has designated an increasing number of regions of Gaza as prohibited areas - where limitations are enforced - or making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed to leave completely.

Initially 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 work within the "no-go" areas.

Israel had also blocked any relief supplies from entering the territory at the beginning of March - alleging that Hamas was commandeering it. Restricted assistance is now permitted to enter, although aid agencies still say it is insufficient.

By the start of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been closed, most fresh vegetables were in very limited 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 provide a “buffer” to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - Hamas has insisted that Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza under any lasting truce.

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 entire 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 secure the release of the 48 captives still held - 20 of which are thought to be alive - and "complete the defeat" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the regions affected by evacuation directives and limitations have been extended to cover 82% of Gaza, as per the UN.

The first phase of the campaign focused on objectives within northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel revealed intentions to seize and control all of Gaza City 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 living there.

Individuals who stayed behind were ordered to move south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has persisted in conducting deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and unsafe.

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 continue to stay in dire humanitarian conditions, with health and other essential services collapsing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including