Takeaways from AP's report on the destruction in Gaza a year into the war

Israel's yearlong offensive against Hamas, launched in response to the militant group's Oct. 7 attack into Israel, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused staggering destruction across the Gaza Strip that could take decades to rebuild.

Hundreds of thousands of people are crammed into squalid tent camps with no homes to return to, even if there is a cease-fire. The mountains of rubble alone, laced with human remains, unexploded ordnance and other hazardous materials, could take years to remove.

Israel blames the destruction on Hamas. Its Oct. 7 attack on Israel — in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage — ignited the war. Hamas embedded much of its military infrastructure, including hundreds of kilometers (miles) of tunnels, in densely populated areas where some of the heaviest battles were fought.

The fighting left roughly a quarter of all structures in Gaza destroyed or severely damaged, according to a U.N. assessment in September based on satellite footage. It said around 66% of structures, including more than 227,000 housing units, had sustained at least some damage.

Here's a look at the main takeaways from an AP interactive report looking at the scope of the devastation.

Israel's offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 96,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up more than half of those killed.

It also says the toll may be higher as thousands of bodies remain buried under rubble or in areas that are inaccessible to medical teams.

Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, but has not provided evidence. Over 720 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, including in the attack itself, the war in Gaza and the conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

The U.N. estimates that around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times. Israeli evacuation orders now cover around 90% of the territory.

Schools have been turned into shelters, and hundreds of thousands have crammed into sprawling tent camps along the coast.

The Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, says it has struggled to bring in basic supplies because of Israeli restrictions, the ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza.

It estimates that some 900.000 people are in need of tents and bedding.

The war has gutted Gaza's infrastructure, which was already in bad shape after a 16-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt when Hamas seized power in 2007.

The U.N. says the war has damaged or destroyed over 92% of Gaza's main roads and more than 84% of its health facilities.

It estimates nearly 70% of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants have been destroyed or damaged. That includes all five of the territory’s wastewater treatment facilities, plus desalination plants, sewage pumping stations, wells and reservoirs.

The breakdown of water infrastructure has flooded the streets with sewage in many areas, contributing to the spread of disease among a population weakened by widespread hunger.

Where houses, shops and office buildings once stood, there are now giant drifts of rubble laced with human remains, hazardous substances and unexploded munitions.

The U.N. estimates the war has left some 40 million tons of debris and rubble in Gaza, enough to fill New York’s Central Park to a depth of eight meters (about 25 feet). It could take up to 15 years and nearly $650 million to clear it all away, it said.

The World Bank estimated $18.5 billion in damage in Gaza from just the first three months of the war, before several major Israeli operations. That figure is nearly equivalent to the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022.

Wealthy Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have said they are only willing to contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction as part of a postwar settlement that creates a path to a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled that out, saying he won’t allow Hamas or even the Western-backed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza. He has said Israel will maintain open-ended security control and delegate civilian affairs to local Palestinians. But none are known to have volunteered, and Hamas has threatened to kill anyone who aids the occupation.

Israel allowed construction materials in before the war, but the system was subject to heavy restrictions and delays.

The Shelter Cluster estimates that it would take 40 years to rebuild all of Gaza’s destroyed homes under that system.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians line up to collect water at a makeshift tent camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - Palestinians pray in front of a mosque destroyed by the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, March 8, 2024, ahead of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential buildings and a mosque in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, File)

FILE - Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential buildings and a mosque in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Smoke and explosions rise inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - Palestinians salvage what they could from the destruction left by Israeli troops in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired four rockets into Israel on Monday as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, without disrupting a nearby ceremony.

Hamas also said it attacked Israeli forces in different parts of Gaza.

The Israeli military said three rockets were intercepted and a fourth fell in an open area. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The military said it launched a wave of artillery and airstrikes overnight and into Monday to thwart what it said was an imminent attack. It said it targeted Hamas launch posts and underground militant infrastructure.

The fighting on the anniversary underscored the militants’ resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive that has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local medical officials. It has also destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population.

Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into nearby army bases and farming communities in a surprise attack one year ago, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding around 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. It has also vowed to strike Iran in response to a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.

Here is The Latest:

RE’IM, Israel — Hundreds of families and friends of people killed at the Nova music festival gathered Monday at the site of the attack, where nearly 400 were gunned down during Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault.

Families gathered around photos of their loved ones, which were arranged in a semicircle around what was the DJ stage. Many lit candles and added mementos or photos, crying and embracing. Overhead, army helicopters circled and constant booms echoed across the area, causing many to flinch.

“We can’t understand how a year has passed,” said Shimon Busika, whose son, Yarden, 25, was killed at the festival. “It’s the most natural place to be, to be here for this moment of silence,” he said.

Busika said it took them a long time, piecing together testimony from other survivors, to understand what happened in Yarden’s last moments. They now know he was killed around 9:20 near a yellow container at the festival where many others were killed, and they will hold a second minute of silence there at the moment he was killed.

The last sounds of the trance track that was playing at the Nova site on Oct. 7 one year ago stopped abruptly, as hundreds of family members and friends of the more than 300 victims stood in a moment of silence. One woman’s piercing wail broke the silence as booms echoed from the fighting in Gaza, just a few kilometers (miles) away.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Twenty Indonesian nationals and a Lebanese evacuated from Lebanon arrived in Jakarta on a commercial flight early Monday and will likely be followed by 20 more in the afternoon, officials said.

President Joko Widodo has called to prioritize the evacuation of Indonesians in Lebanon as hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalate and fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East grow.

“I have directed the foreign affairs minister to take immediate action to ensure the safety and protection of our citizens and expedite their evacuation,” Widodo said last week.

Indonesia’s Embassy in Beirut had prepared evacuation procedures for citizens as part of its contingency planning since August. The Embassy evacuated 25 Indonesian citizens who returned safely to Indonesia last month, said Judha Nugraha, Director of Indonesian Citizen Protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

There are 116 registered Indonesian citizens in Lebanon, most of them students, migrant workers and people married to Lebanese nationals. Many of them have chosen to remain there for various reasons, Nugraha said.

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement Monday that the day carried “terrible pain” and his government “unequivocally” condemned Hamas' attack on Israel a year ago.

Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns on Oct. 7 a year ago, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise attack.

Albanese said that since the attack, Jewish Australians have “felt the cold shadows of antisemitism reaching into the present day — and as a nation we say never again.”

“We unequivocally condemn all prejudice and hatred. There is no place in Australia for discrimination against people of any faith,” Albanese said.

He added that “every innocent life matters” and the number of civilians killed in the conflict was “a devastating tragedy.”

“Today we reflect on the truth of our shared humanity, of the hope that peace is possible, and the belief that it belongs to all people,” Albanese said.

BEIRUT — A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque in Gaza killed at least 19 people.

Rocket sirens and blasts were heard in Haifa in northern Israel late Sunday, and Hezbollah claimed the attack. Israel’s military said at least five projectiles were identified coming from Lebanon and “fallen projectiles” were found in the area. The military showed what appeared to be rubble along a street. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was treating a teen with shrapnel injuries to the head and a man who fell from a window due to a blast.

A year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began. Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.

Lebanese men ride a scooter past a damaged building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Victoria stands in front a picture of her sister, Yulia Waxer Daunt, as she visits the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man takes pictures by his mobile phone of destroyed buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Victoria stands in front a picture of her sister, Yulia Waxer Daunt, as she visits the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)