These numbers show how 2 years of Israel's war devastated Palestinian lives in Gaza

AP , Tuesday 7 Oct 2025

Numbers alone cannot capture the toll of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, which began on Oct. 7, 2023. But they can help us understand how thoroughly the conflict has upended the lives of 2.1 million Palestinians living in the territory and decimated the territory’s 365 square kilometres (140 square miles).

Faten Mreish holds her son's body at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, after he an
Faten Mreish holds her son's body at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, after he and others were killed in an Israeli bombardment. AP

 

Out of every 10 people, one has been killed or injured in an Israeli strike. Nine are displaced.

At least three have not eaten for days.

Out of every 100 children, four have lost either one or both parents.

Out of every 10 buildings that stood in Gaza prewar, eight are either damaged or flattened.

Out of every 10 homes, nine are wrecked.

Out of every 10 acres of cropland, eight are razed (more than three out of every four hectares).

Here’s a closer look at the devastation that followed, by the numbers.

Roughly 11% of Gaza’s population has been killed or injured

Cemeteries are overflowing. Mass graves dot the strip. Israeli airstrikes have killed entire families in their homes.

More than 2,000 people seeking food have been killed. In some cases, Israel has acknowledged firing warning shots at chaotic crowds attempting to obtain desperately needed aid.

Israeli attacks on health care facilities and limitations on the entry of medical supplies have left overwhelmed doctors to treat advanced burn victims with rudimentary equipment. Israel says it strikes hospitals because Hamas operates in them and uses them as command centres, though it has offered limited evidence. 

The war is the deadliest conflict for journalists, health workers and U.N. aid workers in history, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the U.N. The British Medical Journal says the prevalence of patients with injuries from explosives in Gaza compares to data on injured U.S. combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In all, Israel has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000.

More than 40,000 of those wounded have life-altering injuries, according to the World Health Organisation.

The death toll does not include the thousands of people believed buried under the rubble.

Nearly the entire population displaced, and thousands missing
 

Countless Palestinian families have fled the length of Gaza and back, forced to move every few months to dodge successive Israeli offensives. Many have been displaced multiple times, moving between apartments and makeshift tent camps as they try to survive. Squalid tent cities now sprawl across much of Gaza’s south.

Displacements have separated families. Heavy bombardment has left thousands buried under the rubble. Troops round up and detain men, from dozens to several hundreds at a time, searching for any they suspect of Hamas ties. The result is families split apart.

Israel occupies the vast majority of Gaza
 

Israel’s occupation has gained control of the vast majority of Gaza, pushing most of the Palestinian population to a small zone along the southern coast. Under Israeli control, Gaza’s land has been transformed. Forces have flattened or bulldozed entire neighbourhoods of Gaza City and small agricultural towns dotting the border, carved new roads across the territory and built up new military posts.

Bombardment has carpeted the Gaza Strip in a blanket of rubble roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Using imagery of Gaza from space, the U.N.’s Satellite Centre says that at least 102,067 buildings have been destroyed. In the wreckage lie the ruins of grade schools and universities, medical clinics and mosques, greenhouses and family homes.

At least 30% of people go days without eating
 

Hundreds of Palestinians crowd charity kitchens jostling for a bowl of lentils.

Babies are so emaciated they weigh less than at birth. After months of warnings from aid groups, the world’s leading authority on food crises said in August that Gaza City had fallen into famine. Israel disputes the determination.

Towns have been leveled
 

Towns scattered across the strip, where Palestinian farmers used to plant strawberries and watermelons, wheat and cereals, are now emptied and flattened.

Between May and October 2025, Israeli bombardment and demolitions virtually erased the town of Khuzaa, whose rows of wheat and other cereals made it a breadbasket for the city of Khan Younis.

With the war entering its third year, Israel has launched an assault to take over Gaza City claiming it is after Hamas.

 

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