How 15 months of war has devastated Gaza

A ceasefire agreement has been finalized in Qatar to end the 15-month-long conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has long said it will not agree to any ceasefire until it completes the military campaign in the area, which was sparked by a Hamas attack in October 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and More than 251 people were taken hostage.

Gaza has suffered widespread destruction with enormous humanitarian impact. More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s military crackdown, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and much of the Strip’s infrastructure has been destroyed by airstrikes.

The Israeli military says its strikes in Gaza have targeted Hamas fighters and have tried to avoid or minimize civilian casualties. Hamas responded to the Israeli action by firing rockets at Israel.

BBC Verify is analyzing the scale of the damage caused by the conflict that has devastated Gaza.

Health officials in Gaza say they have compiled the death toll – now 46,788 – based on deaths recorded in hospitals as well as those reported by family members.

According to ministry records for victims identified as of 7 October 2024, 59% were women, children and the elderly, but a UN analysis in November put the figure for women and children as high as 70%.

The health ministry also says that 110,453 Palestinians have been injured in the conflict, and the World Health Organization (WHO) It was reported on January 3 that 25% They have resulted in life-changing injuries.

Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) coordinator Karine Huster told BBC Verify that the Gaza health system faces “huge” challenges to “adequately manage all those injured patients over a long period of time”.

A paper in the Lancet medical journal recently suggested that the death toll may be much higher than the ministry’s figures.

The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in the death toll, but the IDF claims to have killed 17,000 Hamas fighters by September 2024. It has not disclosed how it established this figure.

The conflict has caused widespread and significant damage to infrastructure throughout Gaza. The verified image below shows a neighborhood in Jabaliya before and last week of the conflict.

Academics Cory Sher of the CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University are looking at the extent of the damage in Gaza based on satellite images. In their latest analysis, on 11 January, they estimated that 59.8% of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the war.

The map below shows the damage to infrastructure since the beginning of the war. Most Israeli bombing was concentrated in urban areas and some infrastructure was hit at times.

The United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) calculated a higher figure – it reported that 69% of all structures were destroyed or damaged in early December. The United Nations also concluded that 68% of the road network in the strip was damaged or destroyed.

Several instances of damage were reported in and around major medical facilities. The UN says 50% of hospitals are closed, with others only partially functioning – meaning many of those still open lack the capacity to treat chronic diseases and complex injuries.

Hamas has previously been accused by Israel of operating in and around hospitals, but international agencies such as WHO have criticized the lack of protection for health workers and medical facilities – the UN estimates that around 1,060 medical workers were killed. Have gone.

Save the Children told BBC Verify that Gaza’s six public community mental health centers and its only internal psychiatric hospital are also no longer functioning – a major challenge given the UN estimates that around one million children are in need of mental health support. is required.

Ms Huster told BBC Verify that many specialist medical services are now short of qualified doctors and specialist medical equipment.

Education facilities have also suffered significant damage, with the IDF indicating that they have attacked school buildings 49 times since mid-July, targeting Hamas fighters.

We have verified footage of such attacks on 13 sites since early December. These sites have generally ceased to function as schools, often becoming shelters, but the damage will present challenges in returning education to normal in Gaza.

The BBC has also documented how hundreds Water and sanitation facilities damaged or destroyed After Israel began its military action.

Rebuilding infrastructure, from homes to public facilities, will be a major challenge in the coming years. In May the United Nations estimated that rebuilding the strip could cost $40 billion.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 1.9 million people have been internally displaced – about 90% of Gaza’s population. Some people have moved from one area to another several times.

BBC Verify has been monitoring evacuation orders in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes as Israel has launched sustained attacks across the territory and issued mass evacuation orders for large residential areas.

The map below shows the areas subject to IDF evacuation notices since the beginning of the conflict – including a large part of the Strip. Recent analysis showed that approximately 90% of northern Gaza was under evacuation notice between October and late November as Israel launched significant operations in the north.

Even within the “humanitarian zone”, where the IDF has told Palestinians to move there for safety, there have been dozens of attacks.

The changing face of al-Mawasi in the humanitarian sector reflects the impact of displacement on Gaza. The image below shows the same area before the war and in early January. Where once there was empty agricultural land, there are now thousands of tents and temporary structures.

UN projects that 91% of people have encountered high levels of acute food insecurityThe IPC – a group that works with governments, charities and agencies – has concluded that the limits of famine have been reached following recent operations in northern Gaza.

Loss of agricultural land is also among the challenges. In September, UN agencies said 67.6% of crop land had been damaged by shelling, vehicle tracks and other “conflict-related pressures”.

According to data compiled by the United Nations, the amount of aid receiving Gaza has declined significantly in recent months. Before the conflict, an average of 500 trucks of aid entered Gaza each working day.

This number started falling in October 2023 and has not yet recovered.

Even when aid enters Gaza, it does not always reach its intended destination. Aid workers have warned of criminal gangs disrupting aid deliveries and looting supplies, as law and order has collapsed.

The United Nations has estimated that approximately 1.9 million people are in need of emergency shelter and essential household items.

The ceasefire is likely to make it easier to get aid into Gaza, but the next question is how to rebuild the strip. After a devastating 15-month war, Gazans may need more than a decade to rebuild.

Additional reporting by Paul Brown and Benedict Garman.