CNN
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A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Sunday, with the first six weeks of the agreement marking the start of a pause in fighting, the staggered release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and a aid influx into Gaza. The three-phase ceasefire has raised cautious hopes for an end to the war.
Israeli bombardment of Gaza since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 has had a devastating impact on the territory, with humanitarian agencies warning that damage to critical infrastructure including schools, hospitals, water and health facilities health care, will take years to rebuild.
Here is an overview – in 6 graphics – of what Gaza looks like after 15 months of war.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, an additional 11,000 people are still missing – likely missing or not yet found under the rubble.
However, recent research suggests that the death toll may be much higher than current estimates. A study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), also published this month in the journal The Lancet, found that the Palestinian Ministry of Health underestimated the death toll by around 41%. In October 2024, the number of Gazans killed by violence exceeded 70,000, according to the study.
Separately, the Health Ministry said in October that a third of those killed in the first year of the war were children.
Israeli military strikes razed most of Gaza, with Gaza City the most heavily destroyed. Around 436,000 homes were destroyed or damaged across the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations.
According to the UN, around 1.9 million Palestinians – around 90% of the population – are internally displaced. Many people in Gaza have been displaced repeatedly – some up to ten times.
The Israeli army has regularly ordered evacuations from one dangerous area to another, according to the UN, which has repeatedly said that “there is no safe place in Gaza.” Evacuation orders were issued in 67% of Gaza throughout the war, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War.
These orders were often issued by the Israeli military – a method which, according to Amnesty International, “was not an effective warning to civilians”. – or posted on social media – a form of communication inaccessible to many Gazans without electricity or internet.
The Israeli military said it was doing everything in its power to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, including sending text messages, making phone calls and dropping evacuation leaflets to warn civilians before the attacks.
Al-Mawasi, an area of 67 square kilometers (25.9 square miles) – roughly the size of Manhattan, has become the main area of displacement and refuge for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians summoned by the Israeli army to leave their homes. Before the war, 9,000 people lived there. By July 2024, the camp’s population had increased to 1.7 million, according to the UN-backed Famine Early Warning Systems Network. As of October, the camp’s population was estimated at 730,000 people, according to UNICEF.
Despite being designated a humanitarian zone by Israel, Al-Mawasi has been the target of Israeli airstrikes on several occasions.
Many people in Gaza have struggled to access food for over a year.
Before the war, Gaza was “largely self-sufficient” in fresh produce, according to the UN. The Israeli military operation damaged or destroyed up to 96% of agricultural assets, including farms and orchards, according to the World Bank. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that it “does not intentionally harm agricultural land and seeks to mitigate environmental impact outside of any operational necessity.”
Most of Gaza relies on humanitarian aid, but many aid entry points into Gaza have been closed by Israeli authorities throughout the war.
This includes the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the only border crossing between Gaza and Egypt – and once one of the largest and most important aid crossings into Gaza – which is closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of it. Other aid entry points have been opened with extremely limited access.
The UN said in November that people are “starving as the conflict rages, with humanitarian organizations prevented from providing aid to those in need.”
Before the war, an average of 500 trucks per day – around 15,000 trucks per month – containing aid and commercial goods entered Gaza each month.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update on Tuesday that only 2,205 aid trucks entered Gaza in December, excluding commercial vehicles and fuel.
Israel disputed this figure, saying there was no limit to the amount of aid that could enter Gaza and that more than 5,000 trucks had entered during the month, according to a statement from the Coordination of Government Activities in Gaza. the territories (COGAT). which manages the flow of aid in the band.
Meanwhile, trucks entering Gaza now face additional difficulties moving through the territory: around 68% of the road network has been damaged, according to analysis of UNOSAT satellite images.
And criminal gangs continue to loot convoys transporting food.
Gaza’s health system is in ruins. Before October 2023, there were 36 operational hospitals in Gaza. Today, not a single hospital in Gaza is fully functional.
Israel’s series of attacks has “pushed the health system to the brink of total collapse,” according to a December UN report. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has verified 654 attacks on health facilities in Gaza, resulting in 886 deaths and 1,349 injuries.
The Israeli military says Hamas fighters are moving into hospitals and storing weapons there.
Only half of Gaza’s hospitals are partially operational and rely solely on aid and fuel deliveries to function.
Fuel shortages continue to threaten the care of around 2,000 patients, according to the WHO health cluster, around 10% of whom are in intensive care units. Additionally, it is estimated that more than 12,000 patients require urgent medical evacuation abroad.
