Gaza faces months of recovery as Israeli strikes leave behind 61 million tons of rubble
After two years of war, Gaza is now buried beneath more than 61 million tons of debris, with three-quarters of its buildings destroyed, according to UN data analyzed by AFP.
By July 8, 2025, the Israeli army had damaged or demolished around 193,000 buildings about 78 percent of all structures that existed before the conflict began on October 7, 2023 based on satellite analysis from the UN’s UNOSAT programme.
An assessment of Gaza City from September 22–23 showed even greater devastation, with an estimated 83 percent of buildings damaged or destroyed.
The total 61.5 million tons of debris equals roughly 170 times the weight of New York’s Empire State Building or about 169 kilograms of rubble for every square meter of Gaza’s land area.
According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), nearly two thirds of this debris was created in the first five months of the war, while the pace of destruction surged again in the months leading up to the current ceasefire.
Between April and July 2025 alone, around eight million tonnes of debris were generated, mostly across Gaza’s southern regions between Rafah and Khan Yunis.
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