[6] Satellite imagery showed at least 69% of all buildings were damaged or destroyed,[7][8] which also meets or exceeds the scale of destruction in Cologne, Dresden and Hamburg during World War II.

[14][15][a] Israel stated that its struck targets were used by Hamas, but an Airwars analysis did not find evidence of militant presence in most Israeli airstrikes during Oct 2023.

[24] Israel alleges that hospitals, clinics, mosques and schools are used for fighting, and also claims that ambulances transport combat equipment and militants throughout the Gaza Strip.

[62][63] By 28 October 2023, the Israeli Air Force bombed residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp without any prior warning, killing an estimated 50 people per hour.

[66] By 6 March 2024, aerial footage showed that the Al-Shati refugee camp, which had been one of the world's most densely populated areas before the war, was in complete ruins.

[95] In May 2024, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology stated that 75 percent of Gaza's telecoms towers had been rendered inoperable by Israeli attacks.

[111] Analyses by CNN, The New York Times, and Sky News all found that Israel had bombed areas it had previously told civilians to evacuate to.

"[118] After a bombing on tents in Rafah killed eleven people, Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated it was "outrageous and unspeakable".

[126] According to The New York Times, "The buried make up a shadow death toll in Gaza, a leaden asterisk to the health ministry's official tally of more than 31,000 dead".

[127] In May 2024, U.S. doctor described the deterioration of rescue operations in Gaza, stating, "We hear bombs and before my thought used to be 'what patients are we going to meet tomorrow?'

[129] Dr. Marwan al-Hams stated the number was so high because of the lack of heavy equipment or fuel to dig through concrete and steel to rescue them.

While the organization acknowledged that it was difficult to collect and verify information in Gaza, it was believed that about 17,000 children were unaccompanied and separated, about 4,000 likely missing in the rubble and an unknown number in mass graves.

[131] In July 2024, emergency crews stated there were many people trapped under debris in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood following heavy attacks by Israel.

[133] A system known as Habsora, "the Gospel", would automatically provide a targeting recommendation to a human analyst,[134] who would decide whether to pass it along to soldiers in the field.

[133] NPR cited Anthony King, professor of defense and security studies at the University of Exeter, as saying this may be the first time AI-generated targets are being rolled out on a large scale to try and influence a military operation.

"[179] Tor Wennesland, the UN special coordinator for Middle East Peace, stated, "Israel's use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas has destroyed entire neighborhoods and damaged hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, schools, mosques, and United Nations premises.

"[180] In November 2024, Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated during an interview with Christiane Amanpour: "Gaza is destroyed, there is no other way to describe it".

[181] The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell stated Israel's objective appeared to be making Gaza "temporarily or permanently impossible to live in".

[183] On 10 July 2024, the Biden administration resumed shipments of the 500-pound bombs to Israel, which had been halted since May that year over concerns about the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.

[185] In the United States Congress, lawmakers Tim Walberg and Lindsey Graham supported the bombing and compared the situation to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"[190] Satellite imagery showed at least 69% of all buildings were damaged or destroyed,[7][8] which also meets or exceeds the scale of destruction in Cologne, Dresden and Hamburg during World War II.

[196] On 12 January 2024, the spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights stated Israel's attacks were failing to account for distinction, proportionality and precautions, thus leaving Israeli exposed to liability for war crimes.

[213] In June 2024, the UN Human Rights Office published a report stating Israel's use of heavy bombardment raised "serious concerns under the laws of war".

[214] The head of an independent U.N. Commission of Inquiry stated Israel's use of heavy weapons in dense areas "constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population".

[215] Attorney Dylan Saba argues that Israel's dropping of 2,000 lb bombs (each with a lethal fragmentation radius of 1,200 feet) in densely populated civilian areas is as indiscriminate as using chemical weapons.

An official from United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), has said it could take up to 14 years to remove the debris, including the rubble of destroyed buildings.

[217] As of June 2024, the war left an estimated 39 million tons of debris in a widely urbanized, densely populated area, according to the UN Environment Programme.

[220] In addition to fears about unexploded ordnance, health officials were concerned that Israel's bombing of buildings exposed civilians to highly carcinogenic airborne particles, including asbestos.

[222] The Norwegian Refugee Council further warned that when the war ends, half of all families in Gaza will be homeless due to the destruction of their homes.

[226][f] The World Bank and the United Nations estimated in April 2024 that the war had caused $18.5 billion dollars worth of damage to Gaza's infrastructure thus far.