Israel’s military campaign since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack has devastated the Gaza Strip, leaving an estimated 42 million tonnes of debris piled where houses, mosques, schools and shops used to stand. In April a U.N. estimate reckoned that this would take 14 years to dispose of, while the U.N. official overseeing the problem said the clean-up would cost at least $1.2 billion.
Tackling the debris crisis will be harder because it is spread across so much of the Gaza Strip, and because there are so many areas of intense destruction. The volume of rubble is immense and continues to accumulate rapidly. Adding to the complexity is the large quantity of unexploded ordnance (UXO) as well as risks from asbestos and other contaminants, especially in refugee camps, and the large number of bodies still lying in the rubble.
The World Health Organization said large amounts of dust released from destroyed buildings are releasing hazardous materials that float into the air or seep into water supplies, risking serious health problems for Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
According to a damage assessment from UNOSAT, 163,778 structures were damaged in the Gaza Strip based on images taken on Sept. 3 and Sept. 6 amounting to 66% of the total. Of these, 78% were completely destroyed or severely or moderately damaged.
The amount of debris generated by the current conflict is 14 times more than all of the debris generated by the other conflicts in Gaza since 2008.
The sheer volume of this debris is enormous. If piled up, it would be the equivalent of around 11 enormous heaps, each the size of the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt.
Once-bustling streets have been transformed into an eerie landscape of dusty craters, twisted wires and crumpled buildings. Some neighbourhoods like this one in Jabalia refugee camp have become unrecognisable, with buildings and landmarks flattened.

The declared goal of Israel’s campaign in Gaza is to destroy Hamas, which attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed nearly 42,000 people, with another 10,000 feared dead and still unaccounted for under the rubble.
Israel says Hamas fighters hide among the general population and that it will strike them wherever they emerge while trying to avoid harm to civilians.
There is massive destruction throughout the Strip but the worst-hit area is northern Gaza, with 36,611 buildings damaged in Gaza City, according to UNOSAT. The southern city of Khan Younis is the second worst affected area, UNOSAT data showed, with more than 19,000 buildings damaged.
Map visualising the density of rubble in various areas across Gaza.
Israel’s ground campaign, launched soon after the war began on Oct. 7, initially focused on northern Gaza, an area including Gaza City and several refugee camps, but airstrikes continued throughout the tiny territory.
Ground fighting and artillery fire greatly increased the amount of damage to buildings. The Israeli forces also detonated many buildings, including large public ones like universities.
In December, Israeli forces moved into southern Gaza too, including the biggest city in the south, Khan Younis. In May they moved into Rafah on the border with Egypt. However, the most intense warfare has mostly remained focused on the north.
REUTERS
Among the damaged buildings are some 227,591 housing units, the UNOSAT data shows, leaving most of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million people homeless. Some families choose to return to the site of their home and live among the wreckage. They clear just enough rubble to live, setting up tents and cooking and sleeping among the debris. In most cases, they have no equipment to move the rubble so they use shovels or sometimes their bare hands.
Scenes of civilians living among the dusty rubble have played across television screens over the course of a year since Israel's ground and air campaign.



Palestinians walk through rubble in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. September 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian children play outside the rubble of a house in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A woman sits on the rubble of a destroyed building in Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza Strip. May 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
The use of explosive weapons and the demolition of buildings create substantial amounts of dust that pose a health hazard during the conflict and during clean-up and recovery operations.
Inhalation of fine particulate matter can be harmful, notably when the dust, generated during the bombing of structures and infrastructure including industrial sites, is contaminated with organics, heavy metals from munitions, asbestos and other hazardous materials.
Due to its lightweight and particulate nature, dust spreads easily. Wind and rain may carry contaminants in the dust into the soil, groundwater and coastal waters, potentially causing impacts to spread beyond the site of original damage or in locations where debris has been disposed.
Hazardous materials
Conflict debris differs from normal construction and demolition waste due to unexploded ordnance and human remains, and the fact it is released in an uncontrolled manner impacting a wider area. The International Committee of the Red Cross warns that the risk of unexploded ordnance is pervasive across Gaza.
Other hazardous materials mixed within the debris can create health risks. This can include harmful substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, fire contaminants, household chemicals and other hazardous materials depending on specific location.
The rubble is also a good environment for sandflies, which can spread a skin infection called leishmaniasis, and concerns are growing of an outbreak, UNEP said. Scorpions and snakes can also hide among the crannies, posing a risk of bites to displaced populations living among it.
Areas of flooded sewage underneath the rubble can also provide an environment for insects, such as mosquitos, posing a risk of transmitting diseases. Flooded sewage can have a long-term effect on the underground water.
Illustrated diagram showing the various dangers which are present in rubble.
In 2009, a UNEP post-conflict assessment of Gaza revealed the presence of asbestos in building debris and in landfills. Asbestos was found in debris from older buildings, temporary building extensions and sheds, as well as in roofs and walls of livestock facilities. The U.N. Environment Programme estimates that 2.3 million tonnes of debris generated by this conflict may be contaminated.
Asbestos exposure can happen through inhalation of fibres in the air causing lung cancer, mesothelioma, larynx and ovarian cancer and fibrosis of the lungs, also called asbestosis, according to the WHO.
A graphic comparing the diameter of an asbestos fibre to that of human hair
Asbestos-related diseases from rubble were a worry after last year’s earthquake in Turkey. Such diseases usually take 10-50 years to emerge, experts say. The risk of asbestos-related disease increases with the number of asbestos fibres inhaled over a lifetime.
Asbestos-related diseases
Various health complications can arise decades after exposure.
According to a UNEP report, asbestos is mainly found in the older buildings and structures of Gaza’s eight refugee camps, in particular, the asbestos cement sheets used for roofing.
Unlike the usual array of tents marked with UN logos typically seen in conflict areas, the camps in Gaza have developed over seven decades into massive built-up neighbourhoods, with schools, mosques, shops and hospitals.
The densely packed camps were set up in 1948 to shelter the wave of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes amid the fighting that accompanied the creation of the modern state of Israel.
Israeli airstrikes have devastated parts of refugee camps over the course of the conflict. The UN estimates that around 800,000 tons of debris from the camps may be contaminated with asbestos and should be handled as hazardous waste.
Maps plot the widespread destruction of buildings across the eight refugee camps.
The UN report says it is critical to separate this potentially contaminated debris from refugee camps and avoid mixing with debris from other areas in Gaza.
Other locations may present different risks. For example, hospitals and other places where hazardous chemicals were stored may contain debris with higher concentrations of hazardous materials.
The Gaza Industrial Estate, which could also contain highly hazardous debris, has also been completely destroyed, according to satellite imagery.
The 42-million-tonne estimate, which is growing daily, includes what experts call “unreleased debris” which means future rubble that will be created once partially damaged, unstable edifices are torn down. Since a third of affected buildings in densely packed Gaza are high-rises, demolition work is considered high risk and injuries from falling debris could occur at any time.
Satellite images show the widespread destruction of buildings across three of the refugee camps.
Challenges
The scale of the debris poses major challenges for any clean-up effort. With no end to the conflict in sight, a flare-up in hostilities can halt work at any time. Clearing so much debris will require fuel, heavy equipment and personnel - all of which are tightly controlled by Israel. Hamas government officials complain of shortages in heavy machinery to begin such work.
Gaza lacks the space to store all the rubble. which UNEP experts say would need 527 hectares of land. Landfill sites where rubble from previous conflicts was discarded are now within an Israeli military zone, an OCHA map showed.
In past conflicts, Gaza's rubble has been used to build seaports and this time the U.N. hopes to recycle some of it to rebuild road networks and shoreline bolsters.
The scale of the destruction has also blurred property boundaries, which will need to be redrawn. In an indication of the challenge, residents returning to Gaza City said they had to ask for directions in their own neighbourhoods.
Property records may also have been lost in the chaos of war and displacement and UNEP says it will need owners' permission to remove debris, a requirement which may prove difficult with nearly 42,000 killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.
After the 2021 conflict in Gaza, Palestinians themselves disposed of more than two fifths of the rubble, while the rest was handled by partners including the U.N., Palestinian authorities and the Egyptian army.
The task is on a different scale this time, and it is still far from obvious who might help, and what political arrangements will be needed to allow the clear-up to begin.
Sources
United Nations Development Programme; United Nations Environment Programme; UNOSAT; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Asbestos.com, The Mesothelioma Center; Maine Department of Environmental Protection; Health and Safety Executive, UK; National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; World Health Organisation; Planet Labs PBC; NYC Department of Buildings; Humanitarian Data Exchange; OpenStreetMap.
Edited by
Timothy Heritage and Janet Lawrence