A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas is set to take effect on Sunday, January 19, after an agreement was announced on Wednesday to end Israel’s devastating 15-month assault on the Gaza Strip.
The three-phase agreement includes a temporary ceasefire, the release of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, and the return of displaced Palestinians, though many homes in Gaza have been destroyed.
So, what are Palestinians coming back to in Gaza?
What is left of Gaza’s population?
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 46,707 Palestinians and injured 110,265 – an average of 100 Palestinians killed every day over the past 467 days.
Gaza has an estimated population of around 2.3 million people, half of whom are children. There has been a six percent reduction from that population since the war began.
Over the past 15 months, Israeli attacks have killed two out of every 100 people in Gaza and injured five out of every 100. Some 11,160 people are missing, meaning one in every 200 Palestinians in Gaza are unaccounted for – many buried under the more than 42 million tonnes of rubble. And 100,000 Palestinians have left Gaza.
Some 9 out of 10 Gazans have been displaced – and many of them have had to move multiple times since the war began.
But what do the displaced have to return to?
According to analysis by US-based researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek and Corey Scher, overall at least 60 percent percent of all buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed.
Around 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, making it among the highest recorded in modern conflicts and, for many, their neighbourhoods have been completely eradicated, including essential services such as hospitals and educational facilities. That is not to mention the collapse of vital infrastructure such as sanitation systems and electricity services.
Some experts estimate that it will take at least a decade to remove the 42 million tonnes of rubble in Gaza.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of January 14, half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, 88 percent of schools have been damaged or destroyed, 92 percent of homes have been damaged or destroyed, and 68 percent of agricultural land has been destroyed as well as 68 percent of all roads.
How rapidly was Gaza destroyed?
Israel conducted air strikes on Gaza within hours of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack. Israel began its ground invasion into the enclave in northern Gaza, focusing on densely populated areas such as Beit Hanoon and Jabalia.
In the first month of the war, 15 percent of all buildings had been damaged or destroyed, with 34 percent and 31 percent of buildings in North Gaza and Gaza City respectively damaged or destroyed by November 10.
By January 5, three months into the incessant bombardment of Gaza, almost half (44 percent) of Gaza’s buildings had been damaged or destroyed. The majority of the damage was concentrated in the north, as by then, around 70 percent of North Gaza and Gaza City had been destroyed.
Medical facilities came under attack from Israeli bombing and a ground invasion, which saw hospitals such as al-Shifa in Gaza City surrounded by the Israeli army and cut off from people in need of emergency medicine and treatment.
Fifteen months into Israeli air strikes, Gaza is but a shell of what it was. It’s estimated that nearly 60 percent of all buildings have been damaged or destroyed, with the worst-affected governorate being Gaza City, where 74 percent of buildings are ruined.
What’s left of Gaza’s schools?
By August 2024, more than 625,000 school-age children in Gaza went a full year without formal education.
Gaza’s education system lies in ruins after Israeli aerial bombardments. Many schools that remain standing are being used as makeshift shelters for displaced families, further crippling their ability to function as educational institutions. Some 88 percent of schools, or 496 out of 564, have been damaged or destroyed. According to OCHA, at least 503 educational staff have been killed and all university buildings in Gaza have been destroyed.
With no infrastructure, staffing, or supplies, Gaza’s education system has effectively collapsed, raising the question of how it will be rebuilt and function again.
What’s left of Gaza’s homes?
Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, leaving millions of people reliant on humanitarian aid for shelter and survival. This mass displacement and obliteration of infrastructure highlights the monumental challenges Gaza faces in rebuilding, raising urgent questions about the future of its people and the prospect of any semblance of normalcy returning to their lives.
Some 92 percent (436,000) of housing units are destroyed or damaged, in addition to 80 percent of commercial facilities. On top of this, nine out of every 10 Palestinians in Gaza are displaced.
What’s left of Gaza’s hospitals?
Gaza’s hospitals are on the brink of collapse, having been repeatedly attacked and starved of essential supplies, despite their explicit protection under humanitarian law.
That has left many of Gaza’s much-needed hospitals out of service; only half of them are even partially functional, including only one in the whole of North Gaza governorate.
In January, Gaza health officials said Al-Aqsa, Nasser and the European hospitals are at risk of imminent closure, after repeated Israeli bombardment and the blockade of supplies.
Restoring Gaza’s hospitals after a ceasefire would require a monumental effort, given that electricity and clear water restoration are essential. In some cases, hospitals will need to be rebuilt entirely, while securing essential medical supplies and specialised equipment – something Israel cut off during the war – will be imperative.
What’s left of Gaza’s agriculture?
It is estimated that 68 percent of all agricultural land is now destroyed. Sentinel-2 satellite imagery has captured a significant reduction of cropland, with North Gaza suffering the highest proportion of damage per governate, with more than three-quarters of agricultural land destroyed.
In addition, much of the region’s livestock has been killed and irrigation systems and other farming equipment have been destroyed, making recovery challenging. Soil would first need to be cleared of rubble and unexploded ordnance and then treated for decontamination.
Rebuilding Gaza’s agricultural centre will demand significant financial aid from international organisations.
What’s left of Gaza’s roads?
According to UNOSAT data from August 2024, approximately 1,190km (740 miles) of roads have been destroyed in Gaza while 415km (258 miles) have been severely affected and 1,440km (895 miles) have been moderately affected. This amounts to some 65 percent of the total road network in the enclave.
