It has been two years since Israel launched its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s assault on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, in response to attacks on southern Israel by fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and other Palestinian groups, during which 1,139 people died and about 240 were taken into Gaza as captives.

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In response, Israel began a bombing campaign on Gaza and tightened its longstanding blockade, turning what had already been a 16-year siege into a total stranglehold.

1 out of 33 people in Gaza killed

Two years of Israeli attacks have killed at least 67,000 Palestinians. Thousands of other people are still under the rubble.

That is about one out of every 33 people killed, or 3 percent of the pre-war population.

At least 20,000 children are among the dead, or one child killed every hour for the past 24 months.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health counts deaths based on people brought to hospitals or officially recorded. The true number is unknown and is likely much higher because the official death toll does not include those who perished under rubble or are missing.

1 out of 14 people in Gaza injured

The human toll of Gaza’s war extends beyond the dead.

More than 169,000 people have been injured, many with life-altering wounds.

UNICEF estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 children in Gaza have lost one or more limbs.

What few health facilities are still open across the besieged enclave remain overwhelmed as they operate with dwindling supplies and little to no anaesthesia.

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125 hospitals and clinics damaged

Israel has attacked nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Over the past two years, at least 125 health facilities have been damaged, including 34 hospitals, leaving patients without access to essential medical services.

Israeli strikes on hospitals and the continued bombardment of Gaza have killed at least 1,722 health and aid workers.

Hundreds of others have been forcibly removed from hospital wards and patient bedsides and detained in Israeli prisons and military camps.

According to Health Care Workers Watch, as of July 22, Israeli forces are holding 28 prominent physicians, including 18 senior specialists in vital fields such as surgery, anaesthesiology, intensive care and paediatrics, depriving Gaza’s devastated health system of critical expertise.

Two of these senior doctors have reportedly died under torture in Israeli custody, and their bodies are still being withheld.

At least 20 physicians were taken from hospitals besieged or stormed by Israeli soldiers, while others were detained from medical convoys, their homes or during forced evacuations. Most have been held without charge for more than 400 days, including three detained for over 600 days.

These arrests form part of a broader pattern of attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system. Since October 2023, there have been more than 790 documented attacks on health facilities, including aerial bombardments of hospitals, clinics and ambulances, according to the World Health Organization.

Hospitals cannot be the object of attack, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, Articles 18-22. According to Articles 12 and 51, medical units and personnel have special protections.

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8 (2)(b)(ix), intentionally attacking a hospital is a war crime.

Famine

Israel has orchestrated widespread hunger in Gaza through military restrictions that have blocked aid for months and an imposed food distribution system in which people are shot almost daily while trying to collect food.

At least 459 people, including 154 children, have died due to starvation.

On August 22, the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, a global hunger monitor, confirmed a famine in the enclave – the first officially recognised in the Middle East.

According to the IPC, famine is currently occurring in Gaza Governorate and is projected to expand to the Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September. Nearly a third of the population (641,000 people) are expected to face catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5).

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Malnutrition among children surged at a historic pace: In July alone, more than 12,000 were identified as acutely malnourished – six times higher than at the start of the year.

Nearly one child in four suffers from severe acute malnutrition, and one in five babies is born prematurely or underweight.

When the Israeli- and United States-backed GHF took over aid operations on May 27, operating outside the UN framework, it introduced a new, deadly distribution system.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 2,600 people have been killed and over 19,000 injured by fire from Israeli soldiers and GHF security contractors while trying to collect food from GHF sites.

One Israeli soldier described these areas as “a killing field”. And Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli soldiers as saying they were ordered to fire on people gathered at the GHF sites.

89% of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure is damaged

Since October 2023, Israel has systematically targeted Gaza’s already compromised water infrastructure – striking wells, pipelines, desalination plants and sewage systems.

According to UN experts, 89 percent of the enclave’s water and sanitation network has been damaged or destroyed, leaving more than 96 percent of households water insecure.

Local authorities said much of Gaza’s water distribution system lies in ruins, with major pipes shattered and wells either contaminated by untreated sewage or rendered inaccessible due to ongoing fighting and forced displacement.

Today, nearly half of Gaza’s population survives on less than 6 litres (1.6 gallons) of water a day for drinking and cooking, while 28 percent have access to under 9 litres (2.4 gallons) for hygiene and cleaning – far below the emergency 20-litre (5.3-gallon) standards set for “short-term survival”.

Nearly all homes destroyed or damaged

The destruction across Gaza is near total.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, by August, 92 percent of all residential buildings and 88 percent of commercial facilities had been damaged or destroyed.

Entire neighbourhoods have been wiped out, leaving millions of Palestinians displaced and without shelter.

Satellite analysis by the UN’s UNOSAT programme found that as of July 8, 2025, nearly 78 percent of all structures across the enclave have been destroyed.

With 62 percent of residents lacking legal documents to prove property ownership, rebuilding will be fraught with challenges. Many families face the prospect of permanent displacement, unable to reclaim their homes or land even if reconstruction eventually begins.

According to a World Bank assessment released in February, the direct physical damage caused by Israel’s bombardment is valued at $55bn, encompassing the obliteration of homes, schools, hospitals and public infrastructure across the Gaza Strip.

Education

Gaza’s education system has collapsed under the weight of war.

Nearly 658,000 school-aged children and 87,000 university students have been left without access to learning as classrooms and campuses lie in ruins.

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At least 780 education staff members have been killed, and 92 percent of schools now require complete reconstruction.

More than 2,300 educational facilities, including 63 university buildings, have been destroyed. The ones still standing are being used as shelter for the displaced.

Thousands held in Israeli prisons

More than 10,800 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons under what rights groups describe as grave and inhumane conditions, including 450 children and  87 women.

People were rounded up in raids in Gaza or during raids in the occupied West Bank.

A significant number are held without charge or trial. At least 3,629 Palestinians are being detained under administrative detention, a policy that Israel uses to imprison Palestinians indefinitely on “secret evidence”.

Deadliest place to be a journalist

Nearly 300 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, including 10 from Al Jazeera, according to the Shireen Abu Akleh Observatory.

These are the Al Jazeera staff members killed by Israeli attacks:

• Mohammad Salama
• Anas al-Sharif
• Mohammed Qreiqeh
• Ibrahim Zaher
• Mohammed Noufal
• Hossam Shabat
• Ismail al-Ghoul
• Ahmed al-Louh
• Hamza Dahdouh
• Samer Abudaqa

Foreign media have been barred from entering the enclave, with only a few reporters embedded with Israeli soldiers allowed into the enclave under strict Israeli military censorship.

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan says Israel’s campaign amounts to an effort to silence Palestinian journalists.

“Israel first delegitimises and discredits a journalist,” she said. “Smear campaigns accuse them of being terrorist supporters – and then they are killed. This is not just about killing journalists. It is about killing the story.”

The Brown University Costs of War Project reports that more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in the US Civil War, World War I and II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Yugoslav conflicts and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan – combined.

Illustrations by Muhammet Okur