Gaza before and after: New Google Maps imagery shows destruction of the Strip
The app has updated the satellite imagery for much of the Palestinian territory with photos from February 2026 that lay bare the effects of the Israeli offensive
For the first time in over a year, Google Maps has updated its satellite imagery of the Gaza Strip, allowing anyone with the app to see how a territory devastated by the Israeli military has changed. By updating imagery in 2024, 2025 and now 2026, Google has taken a step that other apps such as Apple Maps have not.
Simply opening the app’s map viewer lets you survey the destruction as it was earlier this year: entire neighborhoods flattened by bombs and excavators, dirt tracks cutting through what were once residential areas, and zones reduced to rubble, such as Tel al-Sultan in the southern Strip, where barely 10 buildings remain standing.
South of the Strip
The previous Google update for Tel al-Sultan was from May 2024, when most of its buildings were still intact. Closer to the coast, the imagery previously available for the Swedish Village showed the enclave unscathed. In the latest update, that village near the border with Egypt has disappeared entirely.
Gaza City
About 650,000 people lived in Gaza City, the capital, before the Israeli offensive that followed the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. By October 2025, 83% of the city’s buildings had been damaged by Israeli operations, according to a preliminary analysis by the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).
Current maps show how central buildings in the capital, such as those near Omar Mukhtar Street or the Palestine Stadium, have vanished. In their place, tents have sprung up amid the ruins.
The Al-Shifa Hospital, which was Gaza’s largest medical center and hospital complex, endured two sieges and bombardments by the Israeli military, one between October and November 2023 and another in March 2024. The attacks caused hundreds of deaths and left the hospital practically destroyed, as the new imagery shows.
The Rimal neighborhood, divided into two districts, runs along the coast and was once considered Gaza’s most prosperous area. Much of both districts now lies in ruins. Several Palestinian government offices were located there. On September 5, 2025, the Israeli military blew up the Mushtaha Tower, Gaza’s tallest building, which had 14 floors.
Zooming in on the city’s coast at the Port of Gaza, the tents that displaced people have set up on the beach can be seen, surrounding what remains standing in that area.
After almost three years of conflict, the damage and economic losses in the Strip are catastrophic. The United Nations estimates 1.9 million people forcibly displaced, 371,888 houses destroyed or damaged — more than 60% of the population has lost their homes — over half of hospitals out of service, nearly all schools damaged or destroyed, and Gaza’s economy has contracted by 84%. According to the organization, Gaza’s development has been set back by 77 years.
North of the Strip
In the north, Google Maps shows similar destruction. Towns such as Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, traditionally agricultural because of their fertile land, appear heavily damaged, with entire neighborhoods in ruins.
Beyond the ruins and rubble visible across the territory, the satellite images also show large tracks the Israeli military has cut to isolate, access, or simply destroy areas that previously contained farmland, roads, or homes.
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