Newly released satellite images reveal how cities and towns in Gaza have been destroyed by almost three weeks of Israeli bombardments on the besieged enclave.
Apartment buildings are crumpled and entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins, in pictures taken before and after Israeli airstrikes and provided by Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for the 7 October attacks in which they killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 people hostage.
Since then, Israel has continuously struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and is preparing a ground invasion. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 7,000 people – many of them civilians – have been killed in the Israeli bombardment.
In the city of Beit Hanoun, which lies close to the northern border with Israel, four- and five-storey buildings are in various states of collapse. Huge chunks are missing from some, others are broken in half and two large complexes lie in piles of rubble.
Beit Hanoun lies close to one of the main crossings through which Hamas militants launched their murderous rampage through southern Israel and has been a focus of much of the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) firepower.
Just days into the current conflict, the Israeli air force announced that Beit Hanoun had been struck “120 times”, saying that the area served as a hub for Hamas. The results of the heavy bombardment are clear in images that show entire neighbourhoods reduced to grey wastelands.
With airstrikes continuing almost around the clock, the full extent of the damage remains unknown. Images of the Al Karameh neighbourhood north of Gaza City show the rubble of a number of residential buildings.
The UN has said that 42% of all housing units have been rendered uninhabitable in the past three weeks, with thousands more subject to moderate damage.
The destruction has increased the number of displaced people in Gaza, with the UN and Palestinian Red Crescent estimating that between 400,000 and a million Palestinians are now homeless.
In the Al-Atatra area of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, satellite images show the ash and rubble from airstrikes has spread through entire neighbourhoods.
The UN has warned that amid all the destruction, its fuel supplies are dangerously close to running out, threatening the ability of its agencies to operate in Gaza.
Al-Zahra lies to the south of Gaza City, close the Mediterranean Sea. Earlier this week, Agence France-Presse reported that Israeli missiles had flattened more than 20 buildings in the area.
One shellshocked resident told the news agency that he was unsure where to go or how to protect his family after the strikes.
“Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this could be possible,” Rami Abu Wazna told AFP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
