The war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, which agreed a ceasefire, has killed tens of thousands of people and created a  humanitarian disaster.  The fragile ceasefire deal is due to start on Sunday, but still has to be approved by Israel's cabinet.  The sheer scale of bombardment and violence of the fighting have disfigured the densely populated Palestinian territory's urban landscape. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Before the war 2.4 million people lived on a 365-square-kilometre (140-square-mile) strip of land. 

By December 1, 2024, nearly 69 percent of the buildings in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged, according to satellite imagery analysed by the UN's Satellite Centre (UNOSAT). That amounts to 170,812 buildings.  US researchers Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, who use satellite imagery with different methodology, counted 172,015 damaged or destroyed buildings in Gaza on January 11, 2025.  Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the death of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. 

That figure includes hostages killed while in captivity in the Gaza Strip.  Since October 7, 2023, at least 46,788 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according to data provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Those figures are acknowledged as reliable by the UN. Before the war, Gaza City in the territory's north was home to some 600,000 people. Almost three-quarters of its buildings (74.2 percent) have been damaged or destroyed.  In Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city along the border with Egypt, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in early May. 

By the end of that month, nearly 48.7 percent of the buildings in Rafah had been hit, against 33.9 percent the previous month.  Although relatively spared compared with Gaza City, gutted facades and buildings stand testament to the scars of war.  Rights group Amnesty International said that more than 90 percent of the buildings along 58 square kilometres of Gaza's border territory with Israel appear to have been "destroyed or severely damaged" between October 2023 and May 2024.  The United Nations has estimated that reconstruction in the territory would take up to 15 years and cost as much as $50 billion. 

 During the war, Gaza's hospitals have been repeatedly attacked by Israel, which accused Hamas of using them for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.  Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operational in northern Gaza, is now empty and out of service since a major Israeli strike in late December, according to the World Health Organization.  By December 31, just 18 of Gaza's 36 hospitals, or half, were partially functioning, according to the WHO, with a total capacity of 1,800 beds.  Data from UNOSAT and geographic database OpenStreetMap also indicates that more than 83 percent of Gaza's mosques have been damaged or destroyed.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)