Gaza's Palestinians confront 'ghost towns' as Israel pauses genocidal war

Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of Israeli genocide and carpet bombing.

Across the tiny coastal enclave, where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities, images show mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see — remnants of the longest and deadliest Israeli bombing in Gaza's blood-ridden history.

"As you can see, it became a ghost town," said Hussein Barakat, 38, whose home in the southern city of Rafah was flattened.

"There is nothing," he said, as he sat drinking coffee on a brown armchair perched on the rubble of his three-story home, in a surreal scene.

Critics say Israel has waged a campaign of scorched earth to destroy the fabric of life in Gaza, accusations that are being considered in two global courts, including the crime of genocide.

Unprecedented wreckage

International rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, view the vast destruction as part of a broader pattern of extermination and genocide directed at Palestinians in Gaza, a charge Israel denies. The groups dispute Israel's stance that the destruction was a result of military activity.

Human Rights Watch, in a November report accusing Israel of crimes against humanity, said "the destruction is so substantial that it indicates the intention to permanently displace many people."

Israeli bombing has ground down much of the civilian infrastructure of Gaza, displacing 90 percent of its population. The brilliant colour of pre-war life has faded into a monotone cement gray that dominates the territory. It could take decades, if not more, to rebuild.

A UN assessment from satellite imagery showed more than 60,000 structures across Gaza had been destroyed and more than 20,000 severely damaged in the war as of December 1, 2024.

The preliminary assessment of war-generated debris, including of buildings and roads, was over 50 million tonnes. It said the analysis had not yet been validated in the field.

Air strikes throughout the war toppled buildings and other structures and the destruction intensified with the ground invaded areas.

Tank tracks chewed up paved roads, leaving dusty stretches of earth in their wake.

In northern Gaza Israel launched a new attack in early October that almost obliterated Jabaliya, a built-up, urban refugee camp.

Jabaliya is home to the descendants of Palestinians who were forced to flee during the Nakba that led to Israel's creation in 1948 on Palestinian lands.

Israel's war crimes

But the destruction was not only caused from strikes on targets.

Israel also carved out a buffer zone about a kilometre inside Gaza from its fence with Israel, as well as within the Netzarim corridor that bisects north Gaza from the south, and along the Philadelphi Corridor or Saladin Corridor, a stretch of land along Gaza's fence with Egypt. Vast swaths in these areas were leveled.

Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general, claimed the buffer zones were an operational necessity meant to carve out secure plots of land for the Israeli army.

The civilian death toll in Gaza and the destruction have proved accusations that Israel committed war crimes.

In Jabaliya, Nizar Hussein hung a sheet over the shattered remains of his family's home, stepping gingerly around a large, leaning concrete slab.

"At the very least, we need years to get a house," he said. "It is a feeling that I cannot describe."