Three years on from 7 October, Google Maps update lays bare how Israel has reduced Gaza's towns to rubble

From the Newshound archive · first published 11 October 2026.

Three years after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis on 7 October 2023, a Google Maps update released last week uses satellite imagery to show entire Gazan towns reduced to rubble, with mosques and hospitals that were visible in 2023 now gone. Israel's response has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including 21,000 children, according to figures cited in the coverage. The anniversary falls precisely one year after a ceasefire was agreed that has since held only partially.

More than 1,000 people from Gaza's sporting community have been killed, with 70 per cent of sports facilities destroyed, according to the Palestine Olympic Committee.