It has been two years since the war in Gaza started. Resident Palestinians have faced numerous difficulties in accessing basic human necessities, including food, water, electricity and health care.
The landscape has also changed: where there was once green, nowadays it is shrub and scrub. The National analysed satellite images from the Dynamic World project, a near-real-time data set, and found shifts in land use and land cover within the 365km² Gaza Strip.
Urban area
Cities change and adapt to fit their population, and in Gaza, a region with a population density of more than 6,000 people per square kilometre in 2023, urban areas were constantly growing. In September 2023, nearly 70% of its entire surface area, around 252.1km², was covered by buildings, villages and other human-made infrastructure.
Over two years, that has undergone a sharp decline to 54% of what it was, now standing at 115.8km².
The loss of homes has posed challenges for Gazans, many of whom are facing expensive shelter, with tents costing up to $1,200. If they cannot afford these costs, they are forced to sleep in the open.
Destroyed built-up areas also affect health. As of today, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that 25 hospitals in territory are out of service and 103 health care centres have been destroyed.
Cropland
Even though pre-war Gaza was not self-sufficient, agriculture was essential to its economy and food security, contributing between 6% and 11% of GDP. The UN reported in May that less than 5% of Gaza's cropland was available for cultivation, about 688 hectares.
The satellite imagery analysis showed similar results, with cropland going from 61.8km² to 11.2km², an astonishing decline of more than 80%.
The wiping out of cropland has added to woes in Gaza, which is facing high food costs and famine.
Where is all the lost land?
Most of it is exposed rock and wasteland. In the past two years, the bare ground area in the Gaza Strip has quadrupled in size, increasing from 45.1km² in September 2023 to 206.5km².
