Satellite imagery, video footage and graphics show how Gaza has been left in ruins by Israeli forces
by Emma Graham-Harrison, reposted from The Guardian, January 18, 2025
Graphics and video by Paul Scruton, Lucy Swan, Tural Ahmedzade, Finbarr Sheehy and Laure Boulinier
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people and laid waste large swathes of the territory. Schools and hospitals have been destroyed, and aid flows into the territory have fallen sharply.
As Israel and Hamas reach a deal to pause the war for an initial six weeks, here is a visual assessment of the toll so far on the Palestinian people and the infrastructure they rely on.
Deaths, injuries and displacement
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed inside Gaza by Israeli attacks, according to health officials in the territory. Most of the dead are civilians, and the total represents about 2% of Gaza’s pre-war population, or one in every 50.
Another 110,000 have been wounded, over a quarter of whom now live with life-changing injuries including amputations, major burns and head injuries.
About 1.9 million people have been displaced since the war began, amounting to 90% of the population, with many of them forced to move repeatedly. Hundreds of thousands are living in tent cities and severely overcrowded shelters with poor sanitation and access to little clean water.
The Israeli military says its fight is against Hamas and not Gaza, that its bombardment is proportional to threats and that it makes every effort to warn citizens of imminent attacks.
Aid flows
Gaza has long relied on a flow of trucks carrying food, fuel and medical aid to function. But over the course of the war, Israeli controls drastically limited the number of trucks entering the territory. Alongside the destruction of agricultural production this has led to widespread hunger and malnutrition.
In November 2024, the UN said aid and commercial shipments into Gaza were at the lowest levels since October 2023, and an international watchdog said famine was probably “imminent” in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel says it does not limit aid shipments and blames shortages on logistics failures by aid agencies, or Hamas theft of food aid.
Building damage
Israel’s campaign of intense aerial bombing and mass demolitions has leveled swathes of Gaza, and left whole neighborhoods barely habitable.
Nine in 10 homes in the territory have been destroyed or damaged, the latest UN figures show. Schools, hospitals, mosques, cemeteries, shops and offices have been repeatedly hit. Israel says strikes only target Hamas fighters and claims the fighters shelter in buildings and use civilians as human shields.
Satellite imagery taken this month of Rafah in the south – once considered a “safe” city – shows large portions of neighborhoods adjacent to the border almost completely demolished.
This drone footage from June last year shows heavily damaged and destroyed buildings in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north. An Israeli campaign conducted in three waves has left the camp an unrecognizable wasteland of rubble.
This footage from August shows UN cars driving through what used to be a neighborhood in the north.
This footage shows al-Dahra street in the southern city of Khan Younis before the start of the war and again in April of last year.
Israeli forces have repeatedly bombed, besieged and attacked hospitals in Gaza. Earlier this month the World Health Organization said there had been 654 attacks on health facilities recorded since the start of the war.
Almost every school building in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed, and none are in operation. These composite images show the impact of the war on just three schools:
Among the destroyed educational institutions is the Israa University in Gaza City, which was blown up by the IDF last year.
Emma Graham-Harrison is the Guardian’s senior international affairs correspondent. She was previously based in Kabul, Beijing and Madrid, and has reported from across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. She has won multiple awards including the Society of Editors’ foreign correspondent of the year, for investigative reporting on the Cambridge Analytica Scandal and for uncovering civilian casualties in Iraq
Additional credits —
Paul Scruton: graphic artist
Lucy Swan: graphics editor
Tural Ahmedzade: deputy news graphics editor
Finbarr Sheehy: graphic artist
Laure Boulinier: multimedia journalist
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