GENEVA (Dispatches) — Three years after Israel launched its war on Gaza, satellite imagery and UN investigations paint a comprehensive picture of atrocities that legal experts say amount to genocide, with the destruction of civilian infrastructure and systematic targeting of children documented across the territory.

Satellite imagery analyzed by Planet Labs shows that Rafah, once home to around 250,000 people, has been largely demolished, with Israeli forces continuing demolition and rubble-clearing operations even after the ceasefire.

The destruction extends across roughly 60 percent of Gaza currently under Israeli military control, where at least 50 military outposts have been identified, including 18 built since the ceasefire began.

In northern Gaza, Jabaliya — formerly home to Gaza's largest refugee camp and more than 100,000 residents — has been reduced to rubble, with extensive destruction documented around the al-Awda Hospital Complex and UN-run schools. Beit Hanoun and Gaza City's Shijaiya neighborhood have been similarly flattened.

UN experts reported that between October 2023 and October 2025, at least 92 percent of Gaza's housing units were either fully destroyed or damaged, concluding that Israel's systematic destruction of housing amounts to war crimes and has reached the threshold for crimes against humanity and genocide.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry found in June 2026 that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes.

The commission determined that children were killed mainly through airstrikes using high-yield explosives and through quadcopters, drones, and sniper rifles specifically targeting their heads and upper bodies.

The report said that the killing and maiming of Palestinian children was part of a strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian group.

Gaza's Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 74,245 Palestinians and wounded more than 175,267 since October 7, 2023.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese warned in September 2026 that large-scale debris removal in areas under Israeli control could be used to erase evidence of war crimes, noting that Gaza's rubble contains human remains and physical evidence relevant to investigating alleged international crimes including genocide.

The commission urged all UN member states to ensure accountability for crimes committed, stating that every international legal norm has been violated by the actions of the Israeli authorities towards Palestinian children.