The Gaza Strip in maps: how 15 months of war have radically changed life in the territory

A ceasefire agreement was reached in Gaza, but 15 months of fighting have had a devastating impact on the coastal Palestinian territory.

Israel’s bombing campaign and ground invasion are a response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage.

Israel said it was trying to destroy the military and government capabilities of the Islamist group, bent on Israel’s destruction and which has controlled Gaza since 2007, but more than 46,600 Palestinians have also been killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. .

Gaza residents hope the latest ceasefire will finally bring peace, but the United Nations warns it will take years, if not decades, for the territory to recover. This visual guide shows how life changed dramatically during the war.

The Israeli campaign initially focused on northern Gaza, where it said Hamas fighters were hiding among the civilian population.

The town of Beit Hanoun, located just 2 km from the border, was one of the first areas hit by Israeli strikes. She suffered heavy damage.

Israel continued to bombard Gaza City and other urban centers in the north and ordered civilians to move south to the Wadi Gaza River for “safety and protection” before beginning its ground invasion at the end of the month of October.

But Israel also launched airstrikes on southern towns to which hundreds of thousands of Gazans were fleeing from the north. By the end of November, parts of the southern territory were in ruins, as was much of the north.

Israel intensified its bombardment of southern and central Gaza in early December, before launching a ground offensive on Khan Younis, and by January more than half of Gaza’s buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

Fifteen months of conflict have likely damaged nearly 60 percent of the Gaza Strip’s buildings, with Gaza City suffering the heaviest destruction, according to experts from the CUNY Graduate Center and Oregon State University who analyzed the satellite data.

The UN estimates that damaged buildings account for more than 90% of Gaza’s housing, with 160,000 destroyed and another 276,000 seriously or partially damaged.

Throughout the war, Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United Kingdom and many other countries, and its allies fought intense battles against Israeli forces on the ground. They also fired thousands of rockets into Israel.

Before the war, life was difficult in Gaza: for years the city had been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that severely limited who and what could enter and leave, which both countries said was necessary for security reasons. .

Although almost two-thirds of the population live in poverty, according to the World Bank, and thousands live in UN-run refugee camps, the country also has hospitals, schools and stores.

But Gaza, just 41 km long and 10 km wide, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and closed borders with Israel and Egypt, is now largely uninhabitable.

Entire neighborhoods were razed. Agricultural land where greenhouses once stood have been reduced to sand and rubble by heavy vehicles and tanks used in mine clearance operations by Israeli troops.

Before the war, most of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents lived in its four main cities – Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah in the center, and Gaza City, which had a population of 775,000 – but almost the entire population has now been displaced.

Families were repeatedly displaced as Israel shifted the focus of its operation, initially asking northern residents to move south of the Wadi Gaza River, which bisects the Gaza Strip, then into declaring a series of evacuation zones in the south.

Satellite images show a vast proliferation of tents erected by displaced people in al-Mawasi, a thin strip of mainly agricultural land along the Mediterranean coast near the Egyptian border, which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian zone” in October 2023.

Israel expanded the area in May, to include parts of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, after launching its ground offensive in Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge.

But its size has been reduced several times since then as Israel has targeted areas where it says Hamas operates and launches attacks while embedded among displaced civilians.

In August, the UN estimated that more than 1.2 million people had taken refuge in al-Mawasi, which lacks essential infrastructure and basic services and ranges in size from around 7 km² (2.7 square miles) when first introduced at 72 km² (27.8 square miles).

Overcrowding has become a major concern in UN emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza, with some of them well beyond capacity. Other families live in tents or makeshift shelters in compounds or on open fields or on beaches.

According to the Integrated Food Security Classification Framework (IPC), the global body responsible for declaring famine, around 1.8 million people experience high levels of acute food insecurity, including almost 133,000 people facing severe catastrophic food insecurity.

Its analysis covering the period from September 2024 to August 2025 warned that acute malnutrition levels were ten times higher than before the war began.

Even before the current conflict, around 80% of Gaza’s population was in need of humanitarian aid.

Humanitarian aid deliveries were completely halted for around 10 days when Israel and Egypt closed their crossings after October 7 and have resumed at much lower levels – around 50 humanitarian aid trucks are currently entering in Gaza every day in January so far, according to the UN.

Israel disputes the UN figures, but even its data shows that only 140 trucks per day entered in January, external so far, with the highest number of 226 per day in April.

In March, the World Food Program said that to meet basic food needs, at least 300 trucks per day would be needed to enter Gaza and distribute food – a figure that has not been reached since the start of the conflict .

U.N. officials blamed the situation on restrictions imposed by the Israeli military on aid deliveries, ongoing hostilities and a breakdown in law and order.

Israel says there is no limit to the amount of aid that can be delivered to and through Gaza and accuses UN agencies of failing to distribute supplies. It also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

The conflict has also had a devastating impact on Gaza’s economy, which, according to the World Bank, contracted by 86% in the first quarter of 2024, the “largest economic contraction on record.”

The study notes that almost 100% of the population now lives in poverty, compared to 64% before the war, and that the cost of basic necessities has increased by almost 250%.

UNCTAD, the UN agency responsible for trade and development, estimates that the cost of damage caused by the war is estimated at $18.5 billion, or about seven times Gaza’s gross domestic product (GDP). in 2022.

In October, the organization warned that even once a ceasefire is reached, it would take 350 years to rebuild Gaza’s economy to its 2022 level – unless it is able to grow more quickly. only under the economic and movement restrictions in force since 2007.

Many health facilities can no longer operate due to damage or lack of supplies and fuel.

Many hospitals were also attacked by Israeli forces, with the army claiming they were being used for military purposes by Hamas. Hamas and hospital officials have denied the claim.

Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, lies in ruins, although it has reopened its emergency department. The Israeli military claims to have killed or captured hundreds of “terrorists” and found weapons and intelligence “all over the hospital” during its two main operations in the city.

The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) says only 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partially operating, with a further 11 field hospitals described as fully or partially functioning.

In addition to the human toll, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warns that it will take a long time to repair the damage in Gaza.

It describes water and sanitation systems as “almost entirely failing”, warns of waste accumulation around camps and shelters and the risk of chemicals from destroyed solar panels and spent munitions contaminate soils and water supplies.

It is estimated that more than 50 million tons of debris accumulated as a result of the destruction.

According to UNEP, it may take 21 years to clear debris and remnants of explosives and munitions of war.

“The significant and growing environmental damage in Gaza risks locking its population into a long and painful recovery period,” said Executive Director Inger Andersen.