Google Earth Exposes Devastation in Gaza with New Updated Images
By Maira Butt
Google Earth shows the unprecedented devastation in Gaza, illustrating the scale of the wreckage
Google Earth has updated its images to show the devastating scale of destruction across Gaza with swathes of the strip reduced to rubble.
Israeli’s military action in Gaza has led to the damage and destruction of the majority of housing, hospitals, schools, and buildings across the 141 square mile territory, which is widely considered one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not allowed foreign journalists, independent investigators or several human rights groups into the strip. The Independent’s Bel Trew flew over the war-torn region last year and noted the “torched ruins of once-bustling cities” leaving Gaza in “ash and ruin”.
“It is as if giants have torn through anything that once lived here: monstrous teeth have ripped chunks out of the few buildings that still teeter above ground. Everything else appears stamped underfoot,” she said.
Barry Andrews, Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency wrote: “The updated Google satellite images of Gaza are quite incredible, for all to see…”
It is unclear when the update was made. The Independent has contacted Google for comment.
Earlier this month, the UN called for international investigators to be granted access to all areas of Gaza to help collect evidence and document alleged violations as human remains continued to be uncovered from underneath the rubble.
Rafah in 2022 and 2026
Satellite images had previously documented the scale of the devastation but the new images show the most updated record of the damage inflicted across the region.
A United Nations report released last week concluded that Gaza is facing the worst economic crisis in history. It said that 90 per cent of working-age Palestinians are unemployed and that Annual GDP per capita had plummeted to $212 ($0.58 per day).
Only 1.5 per cent of arable land is now accessible for Palestinians with agricultural and industrial activity down by 94 per cent.
An area near the Qadisiyah School in Rafah in May 2022 (Google Earth)
An area near the Qadisiyah School in Rafah, Gaza in 2026 (Google Earth)
Gaza City 2021 and 2026
Earlier this year, the Red Cross told The Independent that there is only one fully functioning digger to help clear the rubble across the whole territory. Thousands are expected to be buried underneath.
Gaza’s forensic evidence team told The Independent earlier this year that a lack of DNA testing has left hundreds of bodies unidentified, with at least 1,129 recovered from underneath the rubble but left unnamed.
There is an estimated 60 million tonnes of debris spread across Gaza as a result of Israeli bombing across the territory.
Experts say that clearing the rubble could take decades but could be done in seven years if the correct resources were deployed.
Khan Yunis 2021 and 2026
The World Health Organisation estimates 90 per cent of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. Around 82 per cent of all structures and more than 90 per cent of housing units have been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).
Meanwhile, almost all of the population remains homeless with some surviving in the remains of collapsed buildings.
At least 21 people were killed earlier this month when a building caved in on Palestinian families sheltering there. Eight children were also killed in the collapse.
A CBC News investigation found satellite imagery appearing to show Israel compacting and removing rubble and debris from Gaza, that could contain human remains and potential evidence of war crimes across several sites.
A UN expert warned that Israel’s rubble-clearing could erase traces of the atrocity of crimes.
Khan Yunis in 2026 in new images updated on Google (Google)
Khan Yunis before Israeli bombing in 2021 (Google)
In an investigation earlier this year, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor told The Independent that the remains of three brothers, killed in a suspected Israeli sniper attack as they crawled towards a hospital, had been cleared by Israeli bulldozers.
“The ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in Gaza must not destroy evidence of international crimes or prevent the recovery and identification of human remains in the besieged enclave,” said Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
