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THE RUIN OF GAZA: HOW ISRAEL’S TWO-YEAR ASSAULT HAS DEVASTATED THE
TERRITORY  
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Jason Burke. Graphics by Paul Scruton and Heidi Wilson
October 7, 2025
The Guardian
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_ IDF’s bombs and ground offensive have killed tens of thousands of
people, reduced entire cities to rubble, destroyed schools, hospitals
and farmland. _

,

 

The devastating war in Gaza has entered its third year, standing as
Israel’s longest war since the 1948 conflict that led to the
country’s creation.

The majority of those killed by Israel’s offensive in the
strip have been civilians
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and the overall total now exceeds 67,000. Entire families have been
wiped out in a single airstrike. Sometimes, only a single individual
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frequently a child, is left alive. There are also nearly 170,000
injured. In all, casualties amount to roughly 10% of Gaza’s pre-war
population of 2.3 million.

There may well be many more dead uncounted in the rubble that now
covers much of Gaza
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Those killed by untreated illnesses, poor nutrition, suicide or other
causes linked to the conflict are more numerous still. Thousands of
people have simply disappeared – lost, incinerated or blown apart by
explosions, or held in secret detention by Israel.

Israel has controlled and restricted supplies going into Gaza
throughout the conflict but imposed a total blockade
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supplies from March to May 2025, saying that Hamas was stealing
assistance to pay for its military operations. Though restrictions
were eventually eased amid international outrage, famine was declared
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parts of Gaza in August.

The impact of Israel’s offensive on Gaza has led to accusations of
genocide
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which Israel has denied. In September, independent experts working for
the UN high commissioner for human rights said that the death toll and
destruction in Gaza met its criteria for a genocide
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This, too, was challenged by Israel.

The war, triggered by a Hamas raid into Israel on 7 October 2023 which
killed approximately 1,200 people and took a further 251 as hostages,
has devastated Gaza, in physical and human terms. Almost all
Palestinians in the territory have been displaced, usually many times.
Entire cities have been reduced to dust and broken concrete. Witnesses
of attacks, or victims of the violence
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some food distribution sites, or medics in overwhelmed hospitals
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“post-apocalyptic landscapes” or “hell on earth”.

Below is a summary of the cost of the war for Gaza
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DEAD AND WOUNDED

67,074

Palestinians killed in Gaza

168,716

Palestinians injured in Gaza

More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed inside Gaza by Israeli
attacks. Most are civilians. At least 20,000 are children
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about 2% of Gaza’s child population.

More than 168,000 have been wounded, many suffering injuries of a type
and scale more usually associated with professional soldiers in
intense combat
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according to one recent medical study.

Many other Palestinians have been killed by hunger, lack of shelter
and medication, accidents, the rapid spread of infectious diseases and
the collapse of the healthcare system. Life expectancy in Gaza may
have decreased by up to a half in the first year of the
conflict, according to a study
[[link removed](24)02810-1/abstract] in
the respected medical journal the Lancet.

[Relatives mourn Palestinians killed while waiting for humanitarian
aid on 18 August.]

Relatives mourn Palestinians killed while waiting for humanitarian aid
on 18 August. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Israeli officials have previously questioned the death toll given by
the authorities in Gaza, saying that because Hamas controls the
government there, Gaza’s health officials cannot provide reliable
figures.

But in September the former Israeli army commander Herzi Halevi
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more than 200,000 Palestinians had been killed or injured in the war
in Gaza . Leaked Israeli military intelligence data
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casualties until May this year suggested that more than 80% of the
dead were civilians. “This isn’t a gentle war. We took the gloves
off from the first minute,” Halevi said.

DESTRUCTION AND DISPLACEMENT

436,000

Homes damaged or destroyed (92% of total)

2.1 MILLION

Palestinians displaced in Gaza (95% of the population)

Israel’s campaign of intense aerial bombing and deliberate tactic of
razing territory its troops have seized has led to 78% of Gaza’s
estimated 250,000 buildings being damaged or destroyed
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generating 61m tonnes of debris, of which about 15% may be
contaminated with asbestos, industrial waste or heavy metals.

Before and after aerial shots of Gaza.

A high-rise building being blown up in September.

More than 80% of Gaza’s territory is estimated to be currently under
an Israeli military evacuation order or combat zone, or otherwise
barred to Palestinians. Most recently, the Israeli offensive into
Gaza City
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where large numbers of those displaced from elsewhere were sheltering,
forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

In all, aid agencies estimate that about 2.1 million people have been
displaced, 95% of the population. “This is a traumatic, violent
process, often repeated again and again. There are people who have
lost absolutely everything,” said James Elder of Unicef last week.

Hundreds of thousands of people now live in tent cities and severely
overcrowded shelters with poor sanitation and access to little clean
water
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including in al-Mawasi in the south.

Currently, 1 million people cannot access six litres of drinking water
a day, while 500,000 people exist on less than nine litres, just over
a tenth of what was available before the war.

Medieval mosques, Ottoman-era markets, churches and ancient sites have
all suffered massive damage or been entirely destroyed
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SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

518

Schools damaged or destroyed (90% of schools)

745,000

Children and university-age students out of formal education

Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school
for more than two academic years, including 88,000 higher education
students who have been forced to put their studies on hold.

Gaza’s educational infrastructure has been more or less destroyed
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more than 90% of school buildings, 79% of higher education campuses
and 60% of vocational training centres have been damaged or destroyed.

Schools run by the Unrwa agency have been converted into emergency
shelters. They host large numbers of displaced people and are clearly
marked on maps, but many have been bombed by Israel, with
some targeted repeatedly
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[Students doing their homework amid the rubble of buildings in Khan
Younis in September 2024.]

Students doing their homework amid the rubble of buildings in Khan
Younis in September 2024. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Israel says strikes targeted Hamas fighters, claiming they shelter in
the buildings and use civilian residents as human shields.

HOSPITALS AND HEALTHCARE

654

Attacks on healthcare facilities during the war

MORE THAN 1,700

Health workers killed

As of last month, just 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were even partly
functional. Sixteen field hospitals in southern Gaza set up by NGOs
and foreign governments provide some replacement care, but these and
remaining facilities are often overwhelmed. Bed occupancy reached 240%
capacity in al-Shifa hospital and 300% at al-Ahli hospital, both in
northern Gaza, medics there reported in late September.

Almost all hospitals have sustained some damage from Israeli strikes
and one was entirely demolished by the Israeli military. The World
Health Organization reported
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attacks by Israeli forces on healthcare in Gaza from 7 October 2023 to
11 June 2025, killing 917 people and injuring 1,411. Medics and
paramedics were killed, injured, detained and tortured by Israeli
forces.

[A doctor at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City after an airstrike in
October 2023.]

A doctor at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City after an airstrike in
October 2023. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

Medical officials in Gaza said Israel’s restrictions on medicine
entering Gaza meant that many essential treatments
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unavailable and equipment unusable, leaving them even less prepared to
deal with those injured in the war, or suffering from diseases caused
or compounded by lack of shelter, food and clean water.

HUNGER AND AID SHORTAGES

400

Malnutrition-related deaths

According to the UN, 400 malnutrition-related deaths
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including those of 101 children, have been documented since the
beginning of the conflict, most in recent months. Tens of thousands of
children are now on emergency feeding programmes. In August, UN-backed
experts declared a famine in parts of Gaza. Aid workers said in
October that most pregnant mothers in Gaza were eating one meal a day.

Israel has imposed tight restrictions on aid entering Gaza throughout
the conflict, and its destruction of agricultural production inside
the territory has led to scarcity. Any improvement during the brief
ceasefire from January to March, when restrictions were lifted, was
reversed when Israel unilaterally resumed hostilities
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blocked all supplies for two months until, in mid-May, controls were
eased again.

The controversial Israel-and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
was set up to hand out food, but this led to more than a thousand
deaths under Israeli fire
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Much aid delivered into Gaza has been looted by gangs and desperate,
hungry crowds
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The produce and goods now available in markets is unaffordable for
most of the population.

Israel says it does not limit aid shipments and blamed logistics
failures at aid agencies, or Hamas theft of food aid, for any
shortages.

ENVIRONMENT

1.5%

Proportion of Gaza cropland that can be farmed

Since 2023, the Gaza Strip has lost 97% of its tree crops
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95% of its shrubland and 82% of its annual crops, making food
production at scale impossible. The destruction will have long-term
impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, food security and the health of
residents, ecologists and academics say.

In August, new UN figures
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that only 1.5% of cropland was accessible and suitable for
cultivation. Toxic residue from munitions and fires has polluted the
soil and water supplies.

Since October 2023, Mine Action partners have documented 132 explosive
ordnance incidents that killed 47 people, including at least 14
children, and injured 249 people, including at least 71 children.

“The situation is going from bad to worse. If this continues, it
will leave a legacy of environmental destruction that could affect the
health and wellbeing of generations of Gaza residents,” said a
United Nations report last week.

_Jason Burke is the International security correspondent of the
Guardian. In 30 years as a foreign correspondent, he has
reported throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa and South
Asia. He is the author of five books, most recently The
Revolutionists
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* War on Gaza
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* destruction
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