Three years since October 7: Gaza bears the cost of war

• Three years after October 7, 2023, Gaza continues to bear the overwhelming human and physical cost of the war that followed, with tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and hundreds of thousands injured or displaced.
• The events of October 7 unfolded against the backdrop of Israel’s prolonged occupation, blockade of Gaza and decades of Palestinian displacement and violence. The UN Commission of Inquiry documented violations of international law by Palestinian armed groups on October 7, while also investigating extensive violations committed by ‘Israel’ during its subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian armed groups from the Gaza Strip launched a large-scale operation across the Gaza perimeter, breaking through the heavily fortified barrier and entering a number of military positions and communities in southern ‘Israel’.

The operation began with a large barrage of rockets toward southern and central areas, followed by ground incursions by Palestinian fighters who crossed the barrier by land, sea and air. The UN Commission of Inquiry said more than 1,000 members of Hamas’ military wing and other Palestinian armed groups, accompanied by Palestinian civilians, took part.

The operation targeted ‘Israeli’ military positions as well as communities near Gaza. Fighters also reached the site of the Nova music festival.

According to the UN Commission, more than 1,200 people were killed on October 7, including at least 809 civilians and 314 ‘Israeli’ military personnel. The Commission also recorded 14,970 people injured and at least 252 people taken to Gaza as hostages.

The Commission concluded that members of Palestinian armed groups deliberately killed and injured civilians, mistreated people and took hostages. It determined that these acts constituted violations of international law and war crimes.

The events of October 7 cannot, however, be separated from the broader history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For years before the operation, Palestinians in Gaza had lived under an ‘Israeli’ blockade, while Palestinians across the occupied territory faced military occupation, settlement expansion, displacement and recurring military operations.

UN investigators have explicitly examined October 7 alongside the subsequent ‘Israeli’ military campaign in Gaza, stressing that the two developments should not be viewed in isolation from the wider conflict and its underlying conditions.

What followed in Gaza

Within hours of the October 7 operation, ‘Israel’ launched a massive military campaign against the Gaza Strip, beginning with intensive airstrikes before expanding into a ground offensive.

The campaign was accompanied by the tightening of the blockade, restrictions on the entry of food, fuel, water and medical supplies, and repeated mass displacement orders.

The UN Commission of Inquiry investigated the ‘Israeli’ military campaign, including attacks on residential buildings and refugee camps, the siege imposed on Gaza and attacks affecting civilians attempting to evacuate.

The consequences have been catastrophic for Palestinians across the Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s death toll

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, cited by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the war has resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and injuries.

The toll includes large numbers of women and children, while thousands of people remain missing beneath destroyed buildings or have yet to be identified.

The scale of casualties continued even after the October 2025 ceasefire announcement. OCHA reported that, between October 2025 and late September 2026, more than 1,400 Palestinians were reported killed and more than 5,000 injured in Gaza.

Gaza reduced to ruins

The destruction extends far beyond the death toll.

UN assessments have documented the widespread destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, roads, water networks, sanitation systems and other civilian infrastructure across Gaza.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened, while hundreds of thousands of families have been forced from their homes, many of them repeatedly.

The destruction has left Gaza facing a long-term reconstruction crisis, with enormous needs for housing, health care, education, water and sanitation.

A destroyed health system

The ‘Israeli’ military campaign has also devastated Gaza’s health system.

Hospitals have repeatedly been damaged or forced out of service, while medical workers have been killed and injured.

WHO has documented repeated attacks affecting health care in Gaza and warned that the destruction of medical infrastructure has severely restricted access to emergency treatment, surgery, cancer care, dialysis and rehabilitation.

For Palestinians who survived the bombardment, the consequences include amputations, permanent disabilities, chronic illnesses and severe psychological trauma.

Children paying the highest price

Children have been among those most affected.

Thousands have been killed or injured, while hundreds of thousands have experienced displacement, the loss of family members and the destruction of their homes and schools.

The collapse of education, health care, sanitation and food systems has created consequences that will extend far beyond the end of active fighting.

Journalists among the dead

Gaza has also become one of the deadliest places in the world for journalists.

Palestinian journalists have continued reporting from the Strip despite repeated displacement, shortages and the destruction of media infrastructure.

International press freedom organizations have documented a large number of journalists and media workers killed since October 7, with the majority being Palestinians in Gaza.

Three years later

Three years after October 7, the events of that day remain inseparable from the devastation that followed.

The October 7 operation resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people and the taking of more than 250 people to Gaza as hostages, according to UN investigations. The same UN inquiry documented violations of international law by Palestinian armed groups.

But the years that followed brought a vastly wider-scale catastrophe in Gaza, with mass Palestinian casualties, repeated displacement and the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure on an unprecedented scale.

For Palestinians, October 7 is therefore not an isolated date. It is part of a much longer history of occupation, blockade, displacement and recurring violence, followed by a war that has transformed Gaza and left its population facing one of the most severe humanitarian crises of the modern era.