Google Maps satellite images reveal 82% destruction in Gaza

Recent satellite images published on Google Maps have revealed the extent of destruction caused by the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

The images show entire residential neighborhoods wiped out and vast urban areas reduced to rubble. Damaged buildings continue to collapse on residents despite a ceasefire, with the destruction not limited to individual structures but erasing entire housing complexes, leaving empty spaces where densely populated districts once stood.

According to Al Arabiya, the images provide a comprehensive view across neighborhoods and residential blocks, allowing comparisons between Gaza's current state and its appearance before the war.

Meanwhile, the latest update from Israel’s official mapping website (govmap.gov.il) released high-resolution aerial images of northern Gaza without the usual censorship, revealing the locations of 11 Israeli military bases and sites within the buffer zone.

The 2025 images depart from Israel’s usual security policy of censoring aerial maps of Gaza and sensitive military sites. The removal of censorship has, for the first time, provided high-resolution images of northern Gaza, showing massive destruction in Palestinian towns and troop movements. This compensates for the lack of high-quality satellite images from other global platforms for this specific area, according to The Times of Israel.

Israeli authorities quickly deleted the images and reinstated censorship after open-source intelligence accounts discovered them, aiming to prevent the use of this detailed data to track military movements and bases, which are usually restricted for security reasons.

This comes as a United Nations Satellite Centre assessment found that by June 16, 2026, around 201,290 buildings—about 82% of all structures in Gaza—had been damaged. The assessment reported 134,422 buildings completely destroyed, 13,848 severely damaged, 28,096 moderately damaged, and 24,924 likely damaged. In total, about 328,627 housing units have been affected.

A report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing in February stated that more than 200,000 tons of explosives were dropped on Gaza over nearly two years.

The danger is not limited to buildings that have been completely destroyed; thousands of structures have been left cracked or severely damaged, increasing the risk of collapse, especially during rain, wind, and changing weather conditions.

Since October 8, 2023, the Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and injured over 175,000 others, while about 90% of the infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.

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