Google Maps imagery shows scale of devastation across Gaza

Social media users have been sharing Google Maps satellite imagery of Gaza over the past day, pointing to the scale of destruction caused by Israel’s genocidal war on the territory.

Google Maps has reportedly updated its images to reflect the devastation, according to some social media users.

Across parts of the besieged territory, streets run through blocks that appear to have been reduced to grey rubble. Buildings are difficult to distinguish beneath the debris, while map markers for schools, mosques, parks and restaurants remain over places whose surroundings have been devastated. Although the markers show where those sites were mapped, they do not establish whether they still stand.

One of the users who pointed out the reported changes on Google Maps in a series of posts on X was Abubaker Abed, a Palestinian journalist from Central Gaza who left the territory with his family in April 2025. He described seeing the extent of devastation of his homeplace as "surreal".

"I've been to those places, I have seen the scale of the destruction - it was really heartbreaking. But when you see all the destruction in just one interactive website, it really broke my heart," Abed told The New Arab. "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."

Google Maps has been updated to show Zionist-holocausted Gaza. This is part of Rafah. pic.twitter.com/Ys7KQNsu5w

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) September 26, 2026

The imagery around Al-Shifa Hospital, once Gaza’s largest medical complex, shows extensive destruction at and around the site. Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital on 1 April 2024 after a two-week siege. A World Health Organization mission that reached it days later described an "empty shell" and reported extensive damage to its emergency, surgical and maternity buildings.

"What I was most struck by is that every place that I used to visit before the genocide was a mountain of rubble, and heaps of rubble are everywhere", Abed said, referring to the paths he followed on Google Maps.

Along the coast, tightly packed rows of makeshift shelters form another striking feature of the satellite views. Some encampments stretch across broad areas of land, showing how displacement has altered the landscape as well as the lives of those forced from their homes.

google maps' satellite view now shows Gaza post carpet bombing https://t.co/fxfahLMjbH pic.twitter.com/6N3Urg0AAJ

— Zavain Dar (@zavaindar) September 26, 2026

A UN report published on 24 September estimated that around 1.9 million people in Gaza had been displaced, many repeatedly, and that more than 60 percent of the population had lost their homes. The Palestine Shelter Cluster said earlier this month that around two-thirds of households were living in tents or makeshift shelters.

The damage visible on the map reflects the scale recorded by UN assessments. UN Trade and Development estimated on 24 September that Gaza needs $71.5 billion for recovery and reconstruction, and said 92 percent of its economic establishments had been damaged or destroyed since October 2023. An assessment released in April by the UN and European Union, conducted with the World Bank, recorded more than 371,888 housing units damaged or destroyed.

"People right now can see the destruction themselves - they don't even need to go to Gaza, they can see what happened to Gaza which is obvipously genocide," Abed told The New Arab. "It doesn't need scholars, it doesn't need anyone to justify this as a genocide because you can see it from the Google Maps."

Israel’s war has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Users sharing the images have said Google Maps has recently updated its satellite view of Gaza. The New Arab has not independently established when the images were recently captured or added to the platform, or which areas may have changed in a recent update. The New Arab has contacted Google for comment.

Google has itself faced accusations of complicity in Israel’s genocide through the provision of cloud and artificial intelligence technology.

In a June 2025 report, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese named Google’s parent company Alphabet, as well as Amazon, in connection with Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israel. Her report argued that technology firms providing such infrastructure were part of an economy sustaining Israel’s occupation and assault on Gaza.