How three years of Israel’s genocidal war have changed Gaza

War has devastated Gaza’s economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure and public services, transforming how Palestinians live, work, learn and survive.

Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed by Israeli military strikes on Gaza City, October 6, 2026 [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Three years after Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Palestinian enclave has been transformed beyond recognition.

Israel’s sustained aerial and ground assault has devastated vast parts of the Gaza Strip, destroying homes and neighbourhoods and severely damaging its infrastructure and essential services.

list 1 of 3 ‘Not the act of a friend’: Israel’s deadline to close UK consulate nears

list 2 of 3 In Gaza, we cannot even begin to recover from trauma

list 3 of 3 How Palestinian reporters defied Israel’s genocide to redefine journalism

The war has shattered the lives of a population of around two million people. Repeated displacement and evacuation orders have uprooted families and communities, while more than 74,245 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Although a “ceasefire” was announced in October 2025, it has not brought an end to the suffering. The Ministry of Health says 1,462 Palestinians have been killed since the “ceasefire” took effect , while Israeli attacks and other military activity have continued across the Strip.

Years of war have brought the collapse of education, healthcare and the economy, while access to food, water, shelter and other basic necessities has become a daily struggle.

Surviving daily life

For people in Gaza, the war has changed not only where they live, but how they carry out the most ordinary parts of daily life.

A home, running water, electricity and a mode of transport – the basic infrastructure of everyday life – no longer exist for many Palestinians in Gaza.

In September, according to the UN, 94 percent of Gaza’s population remained in urgent need of shelter and basic household assistance, while 65 percent of households were living in tents or makeshift shelters offering little protection from the elements, having been forced from their homes by Israeli attacks or forced evacuation orders.

Many families also lacked adequate bedding, lighting, kitchen equipment and sanitation facilities, according to the United Nations.

Water has become another daily challenge. Ninety-one percent of assessed households experienced moderate-to-high water insecurity in early August, up from 84 percent in June, according to the UN.

Electricity is similarly unreliable. Gaza has remained without a functioning electricity grid, leaving essential services and households dependent on generators and increasingly scarce fuel, engine oil and spare parts.

Damaged roads and communications networks have also made transport, phone and internet access and access to basic services more difficult.

The result is a daily life reorganised around survival: collecting water, charging a phone, cooking, washing and moving between services all require resources and planning that were once unnecessary.

Gaza’s economy has been devastated by the war, with the destruction of businesses and local industries leaving families with little income and sharply reduced purchasing power.

In September, the UN Conference on Trade and Development estimated that 92 percent of Gaza’s economic establishments had been damaged or destroyed since October 2023 , while unemployment had reached 78 percent.

GDP per capita stood at just $212 in 2025, around 17 percent of its 2022 level. Agriculture and industry were each operating at just 6 percent of their 2022 output, while construction had fallen to 1 percent.

The economic collapse has also made basic goods increasingly unaffordable. Restrictions on the movement of goods have deepened the damage to Gaza’s economy, where most goods traded with the outside world have historically passed through Israeli-controlled crossings.

The impact has been felt directly by consumers. In September, prices remained around 200 percent above pre-October 2023 levels, according to the UN.

As jobs and incomes have disappeared, economic activity has increasingly centred on aid, debt and small-scale informal work. Economic researcher Rami al-Zaygh told Al Jazeera that the war had “pushed society back decades”, reviving old professions and creating new types of work using basic tools and whatever resources are available.

Many families in Gaza now rely on cash assistance from humanitarian groups. Physical cash itself has become increasingly scarce, with people using digital payments and e-wallets instead.

The war has drastically changed education in Gaza. For nearly three years, hundreds of thousands of children had no regular access to in-person schooling as schools were damaged or destroyed, while many of those still standing are used as shelters.

Nearly 98 percent of schools have been damaged or destroyed, according to UNICEF. As of April 2026, around 700,000 children aged 4 to 17 had missed almost three consecutive years of in-person education.

Instead of returning to classrooms, many children have been learning in tents and temporary learning spaces. Around 200,000 children have no access to education.

The disruption has also widened the gap in children’s learning. The Palestinian Ministry of Education has warned of a serious loss of basic skills and a growing academic gap, with nearly three years of interrupted education threatening the long-term educational prospects of an entire generation.

Healthcare decimated

Gaza’s health system has been pushed close to collapse.

All 36 of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged, and only 19 are currently functioning, according to the World Health Organization. None is operating at full capacity.

The few facilities still operating are struggling with severe shortages of essential medicines, medical equipment, diagnostic supplies and fuel. These shortages have disrupted cancer treatment, dialysis and care for people with chronic diseases.

Access to treatment outside Gaza has also remained limited. Since October 2023, about 12,400 patients have been medically evacuated, but the WHO says tens of thousands more still require specialised care unavailable inside the Strip.

The collapse of the health system, combined with deteriorating living conditions, has also created increasingly dangerous public health conditions.

The WHO warned in September that overcrowding, inadequate shelter, water and sanitation were increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.

It said the health system was not equipped to cope with these growing risks and called for sustained humanitarian access, essential medicines and equipment, rehabilitation of health facilities and expanded medical evacuations.

Gaza’s geography has been transformed by the war. Israeli military control and access restrictions have divided the territory, pushing Palestinians into an increasingly smaller area while cutting them off from homes, farmland and vital facilities.

The so-called Yellow Line is a military demarcation inside Gaza marking areas of Israeli military deployment and restricted access. Since it was established under the October 2025 “ceasefire”, Israel has moved it deeper into populated areas, forcing families to leave.

In September, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said Israeli military control and access restrictions covered around 70 percent of Gaza, leaving more than two million Palestinians concentrated in less than 30 percent of the Strip.

Rafah is one of the clearest examples of this transformation. Located in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt, the city became a refuge for more than one million Palestinians displaced from across the Strip during the war.

In May 2024, Israel’s military operation in Rafah displaced more than 800,000 people, according to the UN. Today, almost all of Rafah, except for the western area, Mawasi Rafah, is under Israeli control, leaving Palestinians displaced from the city unable to return to their homes.

Euro-Med warned on September 29 that the expansion of Israeli-controlled areas was entrenching forced displacement, denying Palestinians access to their homes and land and leaving them without guarantees of return.

Security and governance

Before the war, Hamas had governed Gaza since 2007, running its civilian administration and security services. The war has disrupted that system, leaving Gaza with a severely degraded civilian administration.

In July, Hamas announced that it would hand administrative powers to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a Palestinian technocratic body established under the post-war plan. But the transition has yet to take place.

The war has also weakened the systems responsible for maintaining public order.

Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked police officers and security posts. The UN Human Rights Office recorded at least 12 attacks on police between January and May 2026, killing 53 people, including 35 police officers. The targeting of public governance institutions had contributed to chaos and undermined civilian protection, the UN said.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has similarly warned that attacks on police and security personnel have weakened Gaza’s civilian protection system, contributing to a security vacuum, kidnappings, attacks on property and looting of humanitarian aid.

For people in Gaza, three years of war have left behind a sense of uncertainty with no clear path forward.

战争摧毁了加沙的经济、教育、医疗、基础设施和公共服务，改变了巴勒斯坦人的生活、工作、学习和生存方式。

2026年10月6日，巴勒斯坦人走在加沙城被以色列军事空袭摧毁的建筑物周围的街道上。[Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

加沙城，加沙地带——在哈马斯领导的2023年10月7日袭击以色列后，以色列对加沙发动了种族灭绝战争，三年过去了，这片巴勒斯坦飞地已经面目全非。

以色列持续不断的空中和地面攻击摧毁了加沙地带的大片地区，摧毁了房屋和社区，严重破坏了其基础设施和基本服务。

列表 1/3 “这不是朋友的行为”：以色列关闭英国领事馆的最后期限临近

列表 2/3 在加沙，我们甚至无法开始从创伤中恢复过来

列表 3（共 3 篇）：巴勒斯坦记者如何无视以色列的种族灭绝，重新定义新闻业

这场战争摧毁了约200万人口的生活。反复的流离失所和撤离命令使无数家庭和社区流离失所，据加沙卫生部统计，已有超过74245名巴勒斯坦人丧生。

尽管2025年10月宣布了“停火”，但苦难并未就此结束。卫生部称，自“停火”生效以来，已有1462名巴勒斯坦人丧生，而以色列的袭击和其他军事行动仍在加沙地带持续进行。

多年的战争导致教育、医疗和经济崩溃，获取食物、水、住所和其他基本必需品已成为每日的难题。

日常生活

对于加沙人民来说，战争不仅改变了他们的居住地，也改变了他们日常生活中最普通的部分。

对于加沙的许多巴勒斯坦人来说，住房、自来水、电力和交通工具——日常生活的基本基础设施——已经不复存在。

据联合国称，9 月份加沙 94% 的人口仍然急需住所和基本家庭援助，而 65% 的家庭居住在帐篷或临时住所中，这些住所几乎无法抵御恶劣天气，他们因以色列的袭击或强制撤离令而被迫离开家园。

据联合国称，许多家庭还缺乏足够的床上用品、照明设备、厨房设备和卫生设施。

水资源已成为另一项日常挑战。联合国数据显示，8月初，91%的受评估家庭面临中度至重度用水不安全状况，高于6月份的84%。

电力供应同样不稳定。加沙一直没有正常运转的电网，导致基本服务和居民生活都依赖发电机，而燃料、机油和零部件却日益短缺。

道路和通信网络的损坏也使得交通、电话和互联网接入以及获得基本服务变得更加困难。

结果是日常生活围绕生存而重新组织起来：取水、给手机充电、做饭、洗漱以及在各种服务场所之间移动都需要以前不需要的资源和计划。

战争对加沙经济造成了毁灭性打击，企业和当地产业遭到破坏，导致家庭收入微薄，购买力大幅下降。

9 月，联合国贸易和发展会议估计，自 2023 年 10 月以来，加沙 92% 的经济机构遭到破坏或摧毁，失业率达到 78%。

2025年人均GDP仅为212美元，约为2022年水平的17%。农业和工业的产出均仅为2022年水平的6%，而建筑业则下降至1%。

经济崩溃也导致基本生活用品价格日益高昂。对货物流动的限制加剧了加沙经济的破坏，因为历史上加沙与外界贸易的大部分货物都经由以色列控制的过境点运输。

消费者已直接感受到这种影响。据联合国统计，9月份物价仍比2023年10月之前的水平高出约200%。

随着就业和收入的消失，经济活动日益依赖援助、债务和小规模的非正规就业。经济研究员拉米·扎伊格告诉半岛电视台，战争“使社会倒退了几十年”，使一些旧职业重新兴起，并利用基本工具和现有资源创造了新的工作类型。

加沙许多家庭现在依赖人道主义组织的现金援助。实物现金本身变得越来越稀缺，人们转而使用数字支付和电子钱包。

战争彻底改变了加沙的教育。近三年来，由于学校遭到破坏或摧毁，数十万儿童无法正常接受面对面教育，而许多幸存的学校也被用作避难所。

据联合国儿童基金会统计，近98%的学校遭到破坏或摧毁。截至2026年4月，约有70万名4至17岁的儿童连续近三年无法接受面对面教育。

许多孩子没有重返教室，而是在帐篷和临时学习场所学习。约有20万儿童无法接受教育。

此次中断也加剧了儿童学习上的差距。巴勒斯坦教育部警告称，基本技能严重流失，学业差距日益扩大，近三年的教育中断威胁着整整一代人的长远教育前景。

医疗保健行业遭受重创

加沙的医疗系统已濒临崩溃。

据世界卫生组织称，加沙地带的36家医院全部遭到破坏，目前仅有19家仍在运转，且没有一家医院满负荷运转。

少数仍在运营的医疗机构正面临着基本药物、医疗设备、诊断用品和燃料的严重短缺。这些短缺已经扰乱了癌症治疗、透析和慢性病患者的护理。

在加沙以外地区获得治疗的机会仍然有限。自2023年10月以来，约有12400名患者被医疗后送，但世界卫生组织表示，仍有数万名患者需要加沙地带内无法提供的专科治疗。

医疗体系的崩溃，加上生活条件的恶化，也造成了日益危险的公共卫生状况。

世界卫生组织在9月份发出警告，人口过密、住房不足、饮用水和卫生设施匮乏正在增加疾病爆发的风险。

报告称，卫生系统没有能力应对这些日益增长的风险，并呼吁持续提供人道主义援助、基本药物和设备、修复医疗设施以及扩大医疗后送。

战争改变了加沙的地理面貌。以色列的军事控制和准入限制将这片领土分割开来，迫使巴勒斯坦人挤入越来越小的区域，并切断了他们与家园、农田和重要设施的联系。

所谓的“黄线”是加沙地带内的一条军事分界线，标示着以色列的军事部署区域和限制通行范围。自2025年10月“停火”协议生效以来，以色列不断将其推进至人口稠密区，迫使居民撤离。

9 月，欧洲-地中海人权观察组织表示，以色列的军事控制和准入限制覆盖了加沙地带约 70% 的地区，导致 200 多万巴勒斯坦人集中在加沙地带不到 30% 的地区。

拉法是这种转变最鲜明的例证之一。这座城市位于加沙南部，毗邻埃及边境，在战争期间成为超过一百万来自加沙地带各地的流离失所巴勒斯坦人的避难所。

据联合国统计，2024年5月，以色列在拉法的军事行动导致超过80万人流离失所。如今，除西部地区马瓦西拉法外，拉法几乎全部地区都处于以色列控制之下，导致流离失所的巴勒斯坦人无法返回家园。

欧洲-地中海人权组织于9月29日发出警告，以色列控制区的扩张加剧了巴勒斯坦人的被迫流离失所，剥夺了他们返回家园和土地的权利，并使他们无法获得返回的保证。

安全与治理

战前，哈马斯自2007年起统治加沙，负责管理其民事行政和安全部门。战争破坏了这一体系，导致加沙的民事行政机构严重瘫痪。

7月，哈马斯宣布将行政权力移交给加沙国家行政委员会（NCAG），该委员会是根据战后计划成立的巴勒斯坦技术官僚机构。但过渡尚未发生。

战争也削弱了负责维护公共秩序的系统。

以色列军队多次袭击警察和安全哨所。联合国人权事务高级专员办事处记录显示，2026年1月至5月期间，至少发生了12起针对警察的袭击事件，造成53人死亡，其中包括35名警察。联合国表示，针对公共治理机构的袭击加剧了混乱，并削弱了对平民的保护。

巴勒斯坦人权中心也发出类似警告，称袭击警察和安全人员削弱了加沙的平民保护体系，导致安全真空、绑架、袭击财产和抢劫人道主义援助物资等事件发生。

对于加沙人民来说，三年的战争留下了不确定感，看不到明确的前进方向。