The Gaza Strip, home to over two million people just nine weeks ago, has been transformed into a scene of devastation and destruction after intense Israeli airstrikes and ground offensives.
Satellite imagery and videos captured in late November and early December depict the harrowing aftermath of the conflict, with heavy damage stretching across almost every corner of Gaza City. The fighting has resulted in the destruction of at least 6,000 buildings, with a third of them completely obliterated, according to a U.N. assessment.
Israeli officials had vowed to destroy Hamas following the group’s surprise Oct. 7 attack, leading to one of the most intense bombing campaigns of the 21st century in the Gaza Strip. The destruction is evident in the once bustling Port of Gaza, which used to be a lifeline for the fishing industry but is now completely wrecked.
The devastation extends all the way to the northern border, where Israeli forces invaded on Oct. 27, bulldozing dozens of homes and creating temporary bases for vehicles along the coastline. The entire seafront has been bulldozed, with tank tracks and craters visible alongside damaged high-rise buildings.
The destruction is not limited to the northern regions, as the advance of Israeli forces from the east has effectively split Gaza in two, blocking important roads and causing widespread damage to neighborhoods and farmland. The cost of carving Gaza in two is evident in the heavy damage, demolished farmland, and torn-up roads caused by constant tank movement.
The images captured only show a fraction of the destruction across the Gaza Strip, with recent assessments indicating that more than half of the buildings in the northern Gaza region show signs of damage. Israeli forces have now turned their attention to Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, raising concerns that the destruction seen in the north could soon be mirrored in the south.
As a result of the conflict, humanitarian conditions are rapidly deteriorating, with the United Nations warning that shelters are far beyond capacity, leaving many civilians to sleep on the street or in empty lots. The situation in Gaza remains dire, as hundreds of thousands of civilians are once again finding themselves in the center of conflict with no immediate relief in sight.