Gaza Strip War in Maps Following Two Years of Hostilities

24 months of fighting have devastated Gaza.

Israel’s bombing campaign and ground invasion have resulted in over 67,000 Palestinian fatalities as reported by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, nearly the whole populace has been displaced, and the UN states most homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

The military operation was launched after Hamas’ unprecedented assault across the border on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 more were taken hostage.

Israel says it is trying to destroy the military and governing capabilities of the Islamist group, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has been in control of Gaza since 2007.

A ceasefire proposal has been put forward by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would end the fighting immediately. The group has consented to release all captives - alive and dead - and to transfer Gaza’s governance to independent Palestinian experts, but it has refused to agree to laying down arms 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 closed borders with Israel and Egypt and by the Mediterranean Sea 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 starvation in Gaza City.

A UN investigative commission says Israeli forces have perpetrated acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - even though Israeli officials have dismissed the findings of the commission, describing it as "distorted and false".

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

Expansion of Damage

Israel's campaign first targeted the northern part of Gaza - where it claimed Hamas fighters were hiding among the civilian population. The group refuted these allegations.

The town in the north of Beit Hanoun, only 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was among the initial locations struck by airstrikes. It experienced severe destruction.

Israel continued to bomb Gaza City and additional cities in the north and instructed residents 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 numerous Gaza residents from the north were fleeing towards. 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 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 early 2025 an approximately 60% of structures throughout Gaza had been harmed, with Gaza City experiencing the most severe damage. More than 46,000 Palestinians had been fatally wounded, as per Gaza's health ministry.

And the destruction has continued since the truce was terminated by Israel in the month of March - encompassing Rafah in the south. The UN estimates over 90% of the residential buildings in Gaza have been damaged during the war.

Humanitarian Catastrophe

During the conflict, the militant group - which is classified as a terrorist organisation by multiple nations including Israel and the UK - and additional factions affiliated with 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, whole neighborhoods have been razed to the ground, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed and agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to debris and dust by armored vehicles and machinery used for destruction by Israeli troops.

Israel says militants utilize non-military structures 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 - Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Deir al-Balah city, in the centre, and the city of Gaza.

Within 10 days of October 7, 2023, the Israeli military campaign had compelled almost 50% to leave their homes, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

And by the time the truce was implemented after 15 months, an approximately 1.9 million individuals had been internally displaced - they remain unable to return home.

Households have relocated repeatedly as Israel changed the focus of its operation, first instructing people in the north to move south of Wadi Gaza river, which cuts the Strip roughly in half, and later ordering people to leave a number of "evacuation zones" in the south.

Airdropped leaflets by the Israeli army warned people to evacuate before operations in the area. However, not all Israeli strikes are preceded by warnings.

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 making them subject to evacuation directives, meaning residents have been instructed to leave completely.

Initially the orders to evacuate applied to two areas - in the North Gaza and Khan Younis governorates - with a “no-go” area in place along the entire frontier.

Aid agencies have to coordinate with the Israeli government to work within the "no-go" areas.

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

By the beginning of April all the UN-supported bakeries in Gaza had been closed, the majority of fresh produce were in extremely short supply and medical facilities were limiting distribution of painkillers and antibiotics.

The NGO ActionAid warned that a "renewed period of hunger and dehydration" was imminent.

The Israeli Defense Minister declared on 16 April that Israel would establish protected areas in Gaza to provide a “buffer” to safeguard Israeli towns even after the war ended - the group has demanded 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 whole of the Rafah governorate in the south, according to the UN.

And in May, Israel launched a land operation named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which the Prime Minister stated would seek to obtain the freedom of the 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are believed to be living - and "finish the destruction" of the militant organization.

From that point onward the areas covered by displacement orders and other restrictions have been extended to cover 82% of Gaza, according to the UN.

The initial stage of the campaign focused on objectives within northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah but in August Israel announced plans to seize and control the entire city of Gaza itself - which it has called the “last stronghold” of Hamas.

The city had been the most crowded part of the territory before the war, with 775,000 people residing there.

Those who remained there were instructed to relocate south to al-Mawasi in the southwestern part of the Strip which Israel has classified as a “humanitarian area” - even though it has continued to carry out deadly strikes there and which the UN said was already overcrowded and dangerous.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have thus far evacuated the city of Gaza, 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 collapsing.

International Response

In September 2025, several countries, {including