By the numbers… A year of destruction in Gaza

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Gaza’s features have vanished, and its details have been disfigured, resembling a destroyed painting trapped in a war that has not ceased for nearly a year.

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Since the war began between Israel and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip a year ago, Israeli military operations, in addition to the tens of thousands of deaths, injuries, and the humanitarian crisis, have caused a level of destruction unseen in the world for many years.
Here is an overview of the destruction caused by the war, according to Agence France-Presse.

169,000 buildings

Gaza has one of the highest population densities in the world, and before the war, its 2.4 million residents were spread over 365 square kilometers.

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As of September 13, around 59% of the buildings in this besieged Palestinian territory had been completely destroyed or severely damaged, based on American satellite images analyzed by researchers Corey Sher and Jaimon van den Hoek. This percentage equates to around 169,000 buildings.
The researchers noted that the majority of this destruction occurred during the first two or three months of the war.

90% of border buildings

About 75% of the buildings in Gaza City are now destroyed or damaged.

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In early May, the Israeli army launched a ground operation in Rafah, near the Egyptian border in the southern Gaza Strip.

Although Rafah did not experience the same level of destruction as Gaza City, its damaged buildings, pierced by bullets and shells, bear witness to the devastation of the war.
Amnesty International stated that 90% of the buildings along the 58-square-kilometer border between Gaza and Israel were “destroyed or severely damaged” between October 2023 and last May.

16 hospitals out of 36

Israel attacked the majority of hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the war, accusing Hamas of using these hospitals for military purposes, which the movement denies.

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In November and March, Israeli forces conducted two military operations at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, which was the largest hospital in the territory before the war.

The World Health Organization stated that the second operation had turned Al-Shifa Hospital into an “empty shell” filled with human remains.

According to the WHO, only 16 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, or 44%, are still operating, and only partially.

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Data from the United Nations (UNOSAT) show that more than 60% of Gaza’s mosques were destroyed or damaged.

477 schools

Schools in Gaza, most of which are run by the United Nations, have paid a heavy price during the war, serving as a refuge for thousands of displaced people fleeing the bombings and fighting.

However, they have been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli army, which claims they are used as command centers by Hamas and its members.

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The movement has repeatedly denied these accusations.

As of July 6, UNICEF counted 477 schools damaged, approximately 85% of the 564 educational facilities. Of these, 133 were severely damaged, and 344 suffered direct damage.

This month, the United Nations Education Fund for Crises reported that around 90% of school buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged.

68% of agricultural lands

According to satellite data from the United Nations as of August 27, 68% of Gaza’s agricultural lands, equivalent to 102 square kilometers, were damaged. This figure reached 78% in northern Gaza and 57% in Rafah.

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68% of the road network in the Gaza Strip was also damaged.

Around 1,190 kilometers of roads were completely destroyed, while 415 kilometers were severely damaged and 1,440 kilometers suffered moderate damage, according to a preliminary assessment by UNOSAT based on data up to August 18.

In previous statements, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that what is happening is “unimaginable: the level of suffering in Gaza, the scale of death and destruction, is unmatched by anything I’ve seen since becoming Secretary-General” in 2017.

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