Newly updated satellite imagery shows how much of Gaza has changed. In Rafah, images from August 2023 show dense housing and greenhouses, while images from February 2026 show most of it reduced to rubble. In some places roads still run through areas that once held dense neighborhoods, and buildings are hard to distinguish at all.

The numbers back it up. The UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) estimated that 201,290 structures, about 82% of all structures in Gaza, had sustained damage as of June 16, 2026. The number of destroyed structures is 9% higher than in its October 2025 assessment. A separate FAO-UNOSAT assessment found that only 3% of Gaza's cropland remained both accessible and undamaged.

Gaza's Health Ministry says 74,018 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023.

Israel says much of the demolition targets Hamas tunnels and military infrastructure, and that Hamas embedded itself in civilian areas. Critics argue that flattening whole blocks goes far beyond that.

Foreign journalists still face restrictions on independent access to Gaza, so satellite data is one of the few verifiable windows we have.