{"id":645298,"date":"2026-10-05T09:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T09:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645298\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T09:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T09:32:12","slug":"its-off-the-charts-satellite-images-show-how-three-years-of-war-have-devastated-gaza-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645298\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s off the charts\u2019: Satellite images show how three years of war have devastated Gaza \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday last, Palestinians<\/a> gathered to bury the remains of 105 people killed in an Israeli<\/a> attack on Gaza<\/a> City three years ago. The victims were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes involving dozens of bombs that levelled a seven-storey building and destroyed several other residential buildings in the Yarmouk Square neighbourhood on the afternoon of October 25th, 2023, local authorities say. <\/p>\n

Three years after the Gaza war began, and almost a year since a ceasefire came into effect, the extent of devastation and the severity of the continuing humanitarian crisis faced by the territory\u2019s 2.1 million people continues to be revealed.<\/p>\n

The presence of human remains still buried under the rubble remains one of the most urgent humanitarian issues in Gaza. According to estimates cited by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), between 8,000 and 10,000 bodies may still be buried in this way.<\/p>\n

Newly released satellite images on Google Maps, taken in June this year, show the extent of devastation. Thousands of homes, businesses, places of worship have been wiped away. Any available open space in Gaza City is packed with shacks, tents and huts.<\/p>\n

The images also show fresh damage to towns such as Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, as well as the destruction of places of worship such as the Istiqlal mosque in Khan Younis. Large neighbourhoods in Gaza City such as Jabaliya and Shuja\u2019iya, which were targeted in repeated Israeli offensives, are clearly now uninhabitable.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish citizens are already ashamed of Israel and inaction, TaoiseachOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Swathes of rubble are visible in the south of Gaza, where a wide strip appears to have been cleared by Israeli forces along the border with Egypt. The town of Rafah appears to have been almost entirely reduced to rubble and Tel al-Sultan razed.<\/p>\n

\"TelTel al-Sultan, Rafah, Gaza, in 2023. Photograph: Google Maps \"TelTel al-Sultan, Rafah, Gaza, in 2026. Photograph; Google Maps <\/p>\n

More than two million displaced people are living in tents and temporary shelters in Gaza, where an estimated 80 per cent of structures \u2013 roughly 200,000 buildings \u2013 have been damaged, with about two-thirds of those destroyed, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.<\/p>\n

A recent UN assessment estimated that the number of destroyed structures across Gaza had increased by 9 per cent since the declaration of a ceasefire in October 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe estimate of the total amount of rubble in Gaza is 61 million tonnes. It is approximately 20 times the amount of rubble generated in all wars across the world over the last 18 years,\u201d Jaco Cilliers, the UNDP\u2019s special representative in Palestine, told the Guardian last month. <\/p>\n

\"AA search for bodies in the rubble in Gaza last month. Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi\/AP <\/p>\n

The destruction is staggering; the human toll even more so. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The conflict was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas into Israel in October 2023, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage.<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s health ministry attributes the deaths in the territory directly to Israeli military action, but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018World\u2019s richest nations\u2019 facilitating \u2018undisguised genocide\u2019 in Gaza, says Sally RooneyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) disputes the ministry\u2019s figures, saying there is \u201cno basis to assume\u201d that all those listed were killed as a result of IDF activity. It says it operates in \u201ca precise manner to remove threats and protect its troops and Israeli civilians, in accordance with the agreement\u201d, and that it works to mitigate any civilian harm \u201cto the greatest extent possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains perilous, according to United Nations agencies and humanitarian organisations.<\/p>\n

Addressing the UN General Assembly last month, secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said of Gaza that while the resumption of assistance since the ceasefire was announced last October has brought some relief, conditions remain intolerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational law, including international humanitarian law, is brazenly violated. Humanitarian access remains severely restricted, and the level of human suffering is still off the charts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AA boy looks out of a vehicle window during a mass funeral at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Photograph: Eyad Baba\/AFP\/Getty <\/p>\n

Conditions in Gaza remain catastrophic, with widespread destruction and severe shortages nearly a year after the October 2025 ceasefire, according to the British Red Cross and M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups say the Israeli military maintains direct control of or imposes buffer zones over roughly 60 per cent of the territory; during military operations this expands to 70 per cent of Gaza\u2019s 365sq km. This confines 2.1 million Palestinians to devastated neighbourhoods and tent camps in the 30-40 per cent of the coastal enclave where homes and infrastructure have been reduced to rubble.<\/p>\n

The UN secretary general\u2019s spokesman, St\u00e9phane Dujarric, has warned of yet another catastrophe. \u201cOur humanitarian colleagues warn that funding shortfalls, as well as continued Israeli restrictions, are severely limiting preparations for the rainy season,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

While heating points and reinforced tents have been established at displacement sites, they can only host 10 per cent of the population. \u201cMany more tents are needed, along with shelter kits, heaters and sustained fuel imports. Thousands of heating points will be required to meet the needs of people when the temperature drops,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Israel reports that approximately 600 to 800 trucks enter the Gaza Strip daily, although humanitarian organisations say only 20 per cent carry vital humanitarian aid. In addition to the trucks that get through, UN deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Ramiz Alakbarov has accused Hamas of disrupting aid distribution, increasing the hardship of civilians \u200balready facing a humanitarian crisis in the devastated enclave. <\/p>\n

He said humanitarian workers halted work after armed men entered a food distribution hub in northern \u200bGaza and assaulted two truck drivers in a World Food Programme warehouse. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese \u200bincidents are not isolated. They are completely unacceptable and reflect an \u2060increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and \u200babusing humanitarian operations,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Bono compares Israeli minister\u2019s comments on Gaza to Nazi leader Heinrich HimmlerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli foreign ministry stated that Israel does not have a policy of starvation and facilitates the entry of humanitarian supplies. <\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, the charge of genocide in Gaza has been levelled at Israel. During his recent address to the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu claimed that these allegations were \u201cthe biggest lie of the century\u201d. <\/p>\n

The US refused entry to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, who delivered his UN address by video-link. He called Israel\u2019s Gaza offensive a \u201cgenocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe\u201d and accused the media of failing to tell the truth about Gaza. <\/p>\n

For nearly three years Israel has banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza. Satellite images, meanwhile, provide a stark reminder of the conflict\u2019s lasting impact. Gaza remains a landscape of rubble and displacement, where the dead are still being recovered and the living are still waiting for recovery to begin. \u2013 Additional reporting: Guardian<\/p>\n

\"MournersMourners attend a mass funeral in Gaza’s al-Yarmouk neighborhood on October 1st following the recovery of 105 bodies from beneath the rubble of the al-Taj residential block which was destroyed by Israeli strikes three years ago. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa\/AFP\/Getty <\/p>\n

Gaza: the human toll<\/p>\n

74, 000 \u2013 The estimated number of Gazans killed during the war, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry. The war was triggered by a Hamas attack in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage.<\/p>\n

175,000 \u2013 The estimated number of injured in Gaza during the war, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry.<\/p>\n

21,000 \u2013 The estimated number of children among the fatalities, local health authorities, and international monitoring groups report. <\/p>\n

2.1 million: The estimated population in Gaza, with one million under the age of 18, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n

8-10,000: The estimated number of bodies still buried under rubble in Gaza, according to the UN Development Programme.<\/p>\n

\"PalestinianPalestinian mourners gathering for a mass funeral at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip last week. Photograph: Eyad Baba \/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday last, Palestinians gathered to bury the remains of 105 people killed in an Israeli attack on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[68227,10748,3409,42,3410,4267,274004,43,4268,40,38,41,39,23242],"class_list":["post-645298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-binyamin-netanyahu","tag-gaza-strip","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces","tag-mahmoud-abbas","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-nations-un"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}