New Satellite Images Show the Scale of Destruction Across Gaza
Updated satellite imagery on Google Maps and Google Earth shows the physical extent of destruction across the Gaza Strip in sharper detail.
The refresh appeared online on the Sunday before Sept. 28, according to social media users cited by The National News. Analysts and social media users examining entire districts reduced to rubble and bare ground described shock at what they saw. The National News
Al Jazeera reported on Sept. 29 that the new imagery shows the level of ruin after nearly three years of Israel's war on Gaza, in which Al Jazeera reports more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed. Al Jazeera
UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said in figures cited in September 2026 that about 82 percent of structures, or roughly 200,000 buildings, were damaged. About two-thirds of those were destroyed. UNOSAT, the U.N. Satellite Centre that maps damage from orbit, found the number of destroyed structures rose by 9 percent since a ceasefire took effect nearly a year before September 2026. A ceasefire is an agreed halt in fighting.
The UNOSAT record shows steady damage over time. As of Oct. 11, 2025, about 81 percent of all structures were damaged. UNOSAT An earlier full assessment counted 70,436 destroyed structures, 18,588 severely damaged, 51,962 moderately damaged, and 33,500 possibly damaged. A later full assessment used imagery collected on Jan. 26 and Feb. 5, 2026.
Al Jazeera's comparison found the Google Maps images are not all from the same date. Rafah views were captured in 2026, while northern Gaza views date from 2025 and 2024. Al Jazeera reported that time lag is important for ceasefire monitoring and for assigning when damage occurred.
Rafah and Al-Mawasi
About one million people were forced to flee Rafah after Israeli military operations began there in May 2024. Then-U.S. President Joe Biden warned in May 2024 that the United States would not supply weapons if Israel entered Rafah.
The 2026 imagery of Rafah shows near-total clearance in parts of the city. The Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah has been almost entirely leveled, with little left except sand where homes stood.
Israel declared Al-Mawasi, a coastal strip along Rafah and Khan Younis, a "humanitarian zone" early in the war and told displaced Palestinians to seek safety there. The latest 2026 images show Al-Mawasi, once largely empty, now covered in tents holding displaced families. UN OCHA, the U.N. aid coordination office, reports Gaza's current population is 2.1 million people, with nearly all displaced.
Khan Younis
Khan Younis recorded 51,885 damaged structures in UNOSAT's October 2025 assessment, the highest of any governorate. A governorate is an administrative district, like a province. It also recorded the largest total area of damaged cropland in the Strip.
Civic landmarks are among the losses. The Indonesian Istiqlal Mosque in the Ma'an area of Khan Younis was destroyed during the war after being reopened less than two years earlier.
Gaza City and the north
Gaza governorate recorded 51,530 damaged structures in UNOSAT's October 2025 assessment, including 41,663 in Gaza City alone. The Palestinian Civil Defence said at least 50 multistorey buildings were destroyed in recent weeks as Israeli forces pressed their assault on Gaza City.
The port area shows damage to livelihoods. Gaza City's port supported a fishing industry that once supported about 110,000 people. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said the port has been severely damaged and most of its fishing boats destroyed.
Satellite images have also recorded other activity. Images show Israel building permanent military bases in Gaza as U.S.-backed reconstruction plans stall. Al Jazeera's Sanad unit analysed satellite images and found Israel razed homes in Beit Hanoon in the weeks since the ceasefire began. Before-and-after imagery compiled after a year of war had already shown widespread ruin to civilian infrastructure.
Gaza's Ministry of Health reported 414 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire, 1,145 injured and 680 bodies retrieved from under the rubble, as cited in OCHA Humanitarian Situation Update No. 351. Separately, UN OCHA's Sept. 4, 2026 report states that 82 Palestinians, including 19 children, were killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the beginning of 2026, with about 1,900 injured in the same period.
The broader context here is verification in a place with limited access for reporters and inspectors. Commercial satellite updates do not establish the cause of each strike, the timing, or legal responsibility. They do create a common visual baseline that humanitarian planners, ceasefire monitors and reconstruction analysts can reference. The rise in destroyed structures after the ceasefire, the concentration of damage in Khan Younis and Gaza City, and the dense tents in Al-Mawasi describe a population with little habitable space and damaged farm and fishing systems. For diplomacy, that sharpens questions about monitoring mechanisms, access for assessment teams, and the order of rubble removal, housing and farm repair.
