Angelina Jolie uses Google Earth images to show scale of Gaza destruction
UNOSAT recorded 201,290 damaged structures, including 134,422 destroyed and 13,848 severely damaged, covering homes, schools, universities, hospitals, roads and water and sanitation systems
Angelina Jolie, a former special envoy for the UN refugee agency, has shared side-by-side Google Earth satellite images showing the destruction of neighbourhoods in Gaza, comparing intact streets from 2022 with updated views showing entire blocks reduced to rubble.
The images, posted on Instagram and X, showed areas in Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza City, says Where is the Buzz.
"You can now open Google Earth and see what was done to Gaza," Jolie wrote.
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Jolie cited analysis by the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), saying 82% of Gaza's structures had been damaged as of 16 June 2026.
UNOSAT recorded 201,290 damaged structures, including 134,422 destroyed and 13,848 severely damaged, covering homes, schools, universities, hospitals, roads and water and sanitation systems.
"Whole neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. Homes, schools, universities, hospitals, roads, water and sanitation systems, infrastructure that people depended on to survive have been damaged or destroyed," Jolie wrote.
She said satellite imagery could show the physical destruction but not its human consequences.
"Google Earth shows the physical destruction with extraordinary clarity. What it cannot show is what it means to live among it, what happened to the families who were killed, and what life is like for those who survived."
Jolie also highlighted the shelter needs facing Gaza's population as winter approaches.
"As winter approaches, 1.98 million people, or 94% of Gaza's population, need shelter assistance and essential items. Aid and shelter materials continue to face restrictions and delays," she wrote.
The Shelter Cluster, a coalition led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, has reported that 58% of residents live in critical or catastrophic shelter conditions. A survey of nearly 2,000 households found that 10% had received shelter or household aid in the previous month.
The coalition has requested $165 million to meet urgent winter needs, but had secured $44 million by August.
Jolie said the focus should now be on meeting immediate humanitarian needs and creating conditions for reconstruction.
"What happens next matters. People need shelter before winter. Humanitarian aid needs to reach civilians at the scale required. Hospitals need medical supplies. And the conditions that allow civilians to rebuild their homes, schools, hospitals, and communities need to be created."
"The destruction is visible. The needs are known."
The war began after Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people. Subsequent Israeli military operations resulted in more than 74,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
A truce was established on 10 October 2025, but reports indicate ongoing strikes and restricted border access.
Jolie served as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and Special Envoy for more than two decades before stepping down in 2022. In January 2026, she visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing to evaluate humanitarian aid operations.
During the visit, she said humanitarian access must be "sustained, safe and urgently scaled up".
