One Palestinian from Gaza said the imagery “shows you the Israeli barbarism and terrorism that the world lets happen.”
Jabalia refugee camp seen in a satellite image. (Google Earth/Airbus/Mapa GISrael)
By Brett Wilkins
Common Dreams
Updated Google satellite imagery shared on social media provides a new perspective on the staggering scale of Israel’s obliteration of the Gaza Strip, showing entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble and vast stretches of a formerly dense urban landscape transformed into barren wasteland.
The images from Google — which is accused of complicity in the Gaza genocide — can be viewed on both Google Earth and Google Maps and show extensive destruction throughout the Palestinian territory.
In some locations, roads and familiar landmarks remain visible amid enormous fields of gray rubble where homes, businesses, schools and other civilian structures once stood.
“I’ve walked through much of the destruction in Gaza myself, but I couldn’t bear looking at the map,” Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed posted on social media. “It shows you the Israeli barbarism and terrorism that the world lets happen.”
????? I’M GOING TO BE SICK
Google updated its Gaza maps with extensive high-res satellite imagery… it’s hard to even stomach it.
Apocalyptic levels of destruction.
We already knew, but for anyone who wasn’t convinced…
Have a look for yourself.
Source: SoarAtlas, Google… pic.twitter.com/8JRo5h9s2r
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 27, 2026
“I’ve been to those places, I have seen the scale of the destruction — it was really heartbreaking,” Abed told The New Arab. “But when you see all the destruction in just one active website, it really broke my heart. I couldn’t even bear continuing looking at that because seeing the place where I grew up, seeing the place where I was born, [lying] in ruins in that way was absolutely heart-shattering.”
U.S. writer Linda Mamoun noted that “Google Maps shows photos and reviews for thousands of places in Gaza that don’t exist anymore. You can scroll through an entire world that Israel destroyed.”
The Google images help affirm independent assessments documenting the extraordinary scale of Gaza’s destruction. According to the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT), 201,290 structures — or approximately 82 percent of all structures in Gaza — had sustained damage as of June.
Rafah. (Google Earth/AirbusMapa/ GISrael)
More than 134,400 structures were classified as destroyed, while over 13,800 were severely damaged. UNOSAT also estimated that 328,627 housing units had been damaged.
The devastation shown in the new imagery is particularly stark in Rafah in southern Gaza. Israel ignored a May 2024 order from the International Court of Justice to “immediately halt” its assault on the city of approximately 275,000 people, as well as other acts enumerated in Article II of the Genocide Convention.
A South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the ICJ is currently in the written phase, which will continue until at least May 2029.
“You can scroll through an entire world that Israel destroyed.”
Wahsh ( (Google Earth/AirbusMapa/ GISrael)
“Look at these satellite images of Gaza and listen to the inconsistency, the hypocrisy, and the ugliness of the soul of the deniers… who will tell you above all not to use the word genocide,” wrote Rima Hassan, a French leftist member of European Parliament.
In a social media post, U.K. journalist David Yelland said: “I recommend spending a few minutes on Google Earth today looking at Gaza. Keeping the media out has meant we have not seen this before. Make your own mind up.”
Another British journalist, Piers Morgan, called the images “horrifying.”
“Now we know why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu continues to ban international media from Gaza,” he added.
Ruins of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip, destroyed by Israeli bombardments, Feb. 23, 2025. (Jaber Jehad Badwan / Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0)
A U.N. report published last week estimates that approximately 1.9 million of Gaza’s roughly 2.2 million people have been displaced by Israel’s assault — many of them more than once — and around 60 percent of the strip’s residents have lost their homes.
The publication also said that 92 percent of economic establishments in Gaza were destroyed or damaged, and that the territory needs about $71.5 billion for reconstruction and recovery.
Khan Yunis. (Google Earth/Airbus/Mapa/GISrael)
Since launching the war in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 74,022 Palestinians and wounded upward of 175,980 others, according to Gaza officials.
The majority of those killed, they say, were women and children. At least 1,421 Palestinians have been killed and 4,983 wounded since the October 2025 ceasefire took effect.
Gaza City. (Google Earth/AirbusMapa/ GISraelData/SIO/ NOAA/ U.S. Navy/ NGA/GEBCOCNES / Airbus
Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former minister of defense, are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.
Some Israelis and their supporters expressed satisfaction and even pride in the satellite images of Gaza’s annihilation.
“If updated Google satellite images of Gaza have not troubled you, see a doctor,” said Lebanese diplomat Mohamad Safa. “Supporting mass killing and distribution on this scale is really a pathological issue.”
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer at Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News
This is what evil looks like !!!!!
The shame of this world!
I think it is worth stating that these images are actually a year old (held by Google, obviously) and the sprawling sea of tents one can see in place of the original buildings are now confined into a much smaller plot of land with the “Yellow Line” comprising 30-40% of recognized Gaza, and continuing demolitions have destroyed even more than we can see here.
Still, if you look at these pictures, and then images from Southern Lebanon (the same erasure of whole villages and towns), as well as the West Bank which is now dense with settlements, and then Israel itself with its modern, new, and luxurious Western infrastructure and lifestyle, it is impossible not to see exactly what this entity is. Religion or identity seem utterly irrelevant, as this is almost otherworldly wickedness.
The level of hate and sadism that now anyone can witness is hard to fathom. I don’t think there is any way such a society absorbed in such satanic malevolence and genocidal madness can be redeemed.
Ongoing mass murder!
There are no words. Except the world has failed the Palestinians for 75 years. This is the result.
Continue to speak out.
Shame on my country for making and then giving the weapons to blood thirsty religious fanatics.
Thank for speaking up.
¡Curioso!; Google mostrando la destrucción. Yo me pregunto, ¿para qué?
buena pregunta.