Apartment buildings are flattened, neighborhoods are destroyed, and the once familiar terrain now resembles a moonscape.
The destruction of areas of northern Gaza is visible from space in satellite images taken before and after relentless Israeli airstrikes, which followed a surprise cross-border attack against Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Palestinian health officials say more than 7,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in airstrikes since then.
Israel says the Hamas operation killed some 1,400 people and took over 200 others hostage.
The death toll in Gaza is likely to rise substantially if Israeli troops massed near the border thrust across.
In images shot Saturday by Maxar Technologies, four- and five-story buildings in the Izbat Beit Hanoun neighborhood are in various states of collapse. Huge chunks are missing from some, others are broken in half, and two large complexes lie in piles of rubble.
The pattern of destruction in the Al Karameh neighborhood can be traced by a widespread pattern of the color of ash.
Tightly packed streets in Beit Hanoun look obliterated, with a rare white structure standing out in the gray wasteland.
Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes that have completely or partially destroyed approximately 200,000 houses since the conflict broke out, the Palestinian Ministry of Housing said Thursday.
Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with over 2 million people living in an area of about 365 square kilometers.
Gaza is home to 1.7 million Palestinian refugees, many living in U.N. refugee camps that provide essential public services, including schooling, primary healthcare, and humanitarian aid.
With the airstrikes continuing around the clock, the full extent of the damage remains unknown. The satellite photos provide a glimpse of the devastation, particularly in the hard-hit northern Gaza Strip.
