Drone Footage Reveals Gaza Devastation After Israeli Strikes

Footage and photographs are emerging from Gaza that lay bare the scale of destruction following Israeli strikes.

The bombardment is being carried out in retaliation after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched surprise attacks against Israel on Saturday, targeting civilians in a co-ordinated assault that left hundreds dead, thousands wounded, and scores of victims, including children, kidnapped. Harrowing videos have shown how the hostages, including Americans, were taken away at gunpoint into Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the attacks by saying his country was now at war against Hamas and he launched a series of airstrikes, including one that destroyed a high-rise apartment building in Gaza, over the weekend. Adding to the footage being shared online of atrocities against the Israelis, harrowing videos are emerging from Gaza showing how the war is destroying buildings and killing and injuring the Palestinians living there.

Israel and Palestine are engaged in a bitter territorial dispute over land that has historical and religious significance for both sides. But the sudden attack by Hamas at the weekend and subsequent retaliation by Israel is the bloodiest conflict in decades.

By Tuesday morning, more than 900 people had been killed in Israel, while at least 680 people were killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.

In response to Israel's aerial attacks, the spokesman of Hamas's armed wing, Abu Obeida, said on Monday night that the group will kill one Israeli civilian captive every time Israel targets civilians in their homes in Gaza "without prior warning."

Drone footage shot overhead shows how buildings have been reduced to rubble. Streets are littered with piles of crumbling ruins where homes, mosques, and businesses once stood. The video was shared by Eastern European media outlet Nexta, which until the weekend had largely been sharing news of the war in Ukraine.

Reporting now on another war, this time ravaging the Middle East, the outlet posted the drone footage, which according to Google's translation software came with the stark caption: "This is what the Gaza Strip looks like after the Israeli Defense Forces attacks."

The outlet also shared photos of the devastation on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have razed 790 housing units and severely damaged a further 5,330, the United Nations (U.N.) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said early on Tuesday morning. Israeli air strikes hit schools, homes and U.N. buildings across Gaza, resulting in civilian casualties, the U.N. confirmed.

Photos taken by eyewitnesses have revealed the scale of human suffering. In Gaza, Palestinians passed the bodies of the dead through dense crowds of men perched precariously on the rubble of what had been the Jebaliya refugee camp. While other images showed bloodied children, covered in thick white dust from exploding buildings, being carried through the streets by parents trying to shelter them from the bombs.

Besides the airstrikes, Israel has also cut off the Gaza Strip, meaning the impoverished territory is sealed off from receiving food, fuel and other supplies. Damage to water and sanitation facilities has cut off services to about 400,000 people, according to AP.

"We have only started striking Hamas," Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address. "What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations."

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, warned that Israel's siege may be going too far. "There is no doubt that collective punishment is in violation of international law," he told AP. "If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because of lack of energy, electricity and supplies, it could amount to war crimes."

Western countries, such as the U.S. and European nations, are standing with Israel, while other countries, such as Iran and Iraq, have pledged support to the Palestinians.