after two years of war
00:06
In this special report
we take stock of
00:17
the human cost of this war
00:19
how much aid is getting through
00:21
The scale of destruction
to buildings and food production
00:24
And how hospitals are surviving
00:28
The war started on October 7th 2023
00:32
after Hamas attacked Israel,
00:35
killing about 1200 people
and taking 251 hostages
00:37
47 remain in captivity,
with 20 believed to be alive.
00:42
In response,
Israel launched a massive military campaign,
00:47
saying its aim was to destroy Hamas
and bring the hostages home
00:52
The human toll of the war has been enormous
00:57
According to Gaza’s Health ministry,
01:00
more than 60 thousand people have been killed
01:03
as of the start of September.
01:07
The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians
01:08
but it says 30% were children and 16% were women.
01:12
Israel says this death toll can’t be trusted
01:17
because the health ministry’s is run by Hamas,
01:20
but their figures were seen as reliable
01:22
by the UN in previous conflicts.
01:24
Counting the number of dead in a war zone
01:29
with bodies buried under the rubble is difficult
01:31
The Lancet the respected medical journal
01:35
analysed the Health Ministry’s figures and estimates
01:37
the real death toll is 40 percent higher
01:40
and it says most of the dead were women,
children and the elderly.
01:44
Now international attention
is focusing on hunger and malnutrition in Gaza.
01:51
UN-backed experts that monitor global hunger the IPC
01:58
say famine has been confirmed
in northern Gaza and is expanding
02:01
In a new report released in late August.
02:06
It says half a million are facing starvation and death.
02:08
And a more than hundred thousand children
are threatened by malnutrition
02:12
Israel called the report false and biased.
02:17
The IPC rejected the allegations
02:20
More than a hundred aid agencies
have issued a joint statement
02:24
warning that people in Gaza
are wasting away as mass starvation spreads.
02:27
and the world heath ogranization says
02:34
what is happening is "man-made mass starvation".
02:36
“I lost a five-year-old son,
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his name is Naim Ibrahim al-Najjar,
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I can send you his pictures,
02:46
so you see how he was and how he
ended up and how his bones wasted away.
02:47
For those who say there is no famine here are lying,
02:51
let them come and see
02:53
Aid agencies say this is happening
because of the lack of food getting into Gaza.
02:56
Before the conflict started,
03:01
the UN says Gaza was receiving an average
of about 500 truckloads of aid each day.
03:03
In the first 16 months of the war,
03:09
the UN says that average dropped
dramatically to around 116 trucks a day.
03:11
and in the 2 month period after the US and Israeli-backed
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over,
03:16
in May, that number went down to an average
of 60 a day, according to Israeli figures.
03:21
according to Israeli figures.
03:26
That's a massive drop of 88 percent
03:27
compared what was coming in to Gaza
before the war
03:30
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
has only four sites.
03:38
They are located in militarised zones.
03:41
Palestinians must travel long,
risky distances to reach them.
03:45
Since late May, the UN has recorded
at least 1000 Palestinians killed
03:50
near GHF sites while trying to get food
03:54
The UN says the majority killed
were shot by Israeli troops.
04:00
Global experts and aid agencies
warned of a looming famine earlier this year,
04:10
after Israel completely cut off supplies
to Gaza at the start of March.
04:14
That total aid blockade lasted almost three months.
04:19
Israel said it was putting pressure
on Hamas to release its hostages
04:23
and insisted there was
enough food inside Gaza.
04:27
In late July additional truckloads of food entered Gaza
04:32
after Israel promised to open more aid routes
04:35
but humanitarian agencies warned
vast amounts more are needed to stop starvation.
04:39
The aid agencies say the scale the destruction
04:47
and the displacement of Gaza’s population
04:49
makes distributing whatever
aid gets in extremely difficult.
04:51
There are a hundred thousand children
suffering from severe food insecurity,
04:59
and they need immediate intervention,
whether with nutritional supplements or medicines,
05:04
so that we can stop the deterioration.
05:09
And here we stress that
the destruction we have witnessed means
05:13
we will be in a state of emergency
humanitarian response
05:18
in terms of shelter for a long time.
05:21
Let's take a look at what a satellite map
shows us about the scale of destruction.
05:25
The red dots show the extent of damage,
05:30
according to an analysis by
satellite data experts at Oregon State University.
05:34
The scale of destruction
can be seen increasing over time.
05:39
They estimate the percentage of buildings destroyed
05:43
or damaged in the Gaza Strip is nearly sixty percent.
05:45
Other estimates put that figure higher
05:49
the UN says 92% of homes have been destroyed
05:53
Aerial pictures of places in Gaza before
and after the conflict began
05:59
can also help us understand
how bad the destruction has been.
06:04
On the left, is drone footage
of Gaza City before the conflict
06:08
and on the right, is what it looked like
in January this year.
06:13
And this is what the centre of
Khan Younis looked like before
06:17
and after the bombardment began.
06:21
Israel has demolished thousands of
buildings across Gaza
06:27
since it withdrew from a ceasefire
with Hamas in March.
06:30
Entire towns and suburbs
once home to hundreds of thousands of people
06:35
have recently been levelled
06:39
Satellite images we’ve analysed show that
06:42
massive amounts of destruction
has occurred in several areas under Israeli control
06:44
Israeli forces have carried out
controlled demolitions on tower blocks,
06:50
schools and medical centres.
06:54
An Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson said
06:58
it operated in accordance with international law
that Hamas concealed "military assets" in civilian areas,
07:00
and that the "destruction of property is only performed
when an imperative military necessity is demanded".
07:06
Israel destroyed more buildings in northern Gaza earlier September.
07:15
This was ahead of its Gaza City ground offensive,
07:21
claiming the city was a Hamas base.
07:24
But some experts and military historians
say the intensity of the destruction
07:29
and percentage of the population that’s died
07:33
is worse than any conflict since World War 2.
07:35
The only meaningful comparison
of Gaza today is World War 2.
07:39
And before Gaza Germany
07:46
the bombing and invasion of Germany ranked as
07:49
The worst civilian punishment
campaign by a western democracy was
07:52
killed about 3 percent of the German population.
07:56
Today the bombing and invasion of Gaza has killed
07:59
between 3 and 5 percent of the population of Gaza.
08:03
The bombing has left Gaza’s health
care system on the verge of collapse.
08:08
According to the World Health Organization:
08:12
only 18 of Gaza’s 36 major hospitals are open
08:16
and they are described as only partially operational
08:20
because they’ve suffered serious damage.
08:24
This is Nasser Hospital
08:30
It came under Israeli fire on August the 25.
08:34
At least 20 people were killed, including five journalists.
08:37
The attack drew international condemnation.
08:42
Israel say it was targeting a camera operated by Hamas,
08:45
but it didn’t provide any evidence
08:48
Before the attack hundreds
of thousands of people depend on it.
08:53
the last major partially-functioning
hospital in southern Gaza.
08:57
But doctors here say it's reached its breaking point.
09:01
They say the hospital is completely
overwhelmed with mass casualties,
09:05
and struggling to cope with shortages of fuel,
beds, medication, staff, and food.
09:09
The situation is very similar
at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital
09:16
which last month treated a large
number of children injured in an Israeli strike
09:20
while they were queuing for nutritional supplements.
09:25
Doctors say shortages of essential
medicine and equipment is now critical
09:29
with not enough painkillers or even bandages.
09:34
We are focusing on life-saving
operations whilst postponing the rest.
09:39
Of course, delays in some cases lead to the
condition of the affected patients to get worse,
09:44
and we may end up losing some of them.
09:50
The war has also affected Gaza’s food production,
09:54
which has been nearly wiped out.
09:57
Although Gaza was dependent of food aid before the war,
10:01
a substantial amount of its food came from
farming and agriculture inside Gaza.
10:04
The Palestinian Bureau of Statistics says
10:10
44% of the agricultural commodities people
consumed before the war came from local production.
10:12
Satellite pictures of farmland
taken before the conflict
10:20
and more recently show how badly
agriculture has been hit.
10:23
We showed them to three agricultural experts.
10:28
All of them agreed the images
show agricultural production
10:30
in this key farmland area has been devastated.
10:33
And that the land has probably
sustained longterm damage.
10:37
The UN says 86% of Gaza's farmland
has been damaged
10:41
and less than 2% of it now
Is accessible to farmers
10:46
Agriculture has also been hurt
by the enormous damage to water systems.
10:51
UNICEF says that - as of June only 40% of Gaza’s
drinking water infrastructure remained functional.
10:58
So many of the things vital to communities
and Gazan society lie in ruins.
11:08
One other way of illustrating the destruction
11:16
is a night-time satellite view
of the lights of Gaza
11:18
before the conflict
11:22
and after it began.
11:23
Two years of intense bombardment
11:25
has severely darkened life for the people of Gaza.
11:28