Remote sensing quantifies the destruction of both infrastructure and economic activity from the war in Gaza. Satellite-based data reveals that more than three quarters of Gaza’s economy has been wiped out since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. Even before the war, economic conditions in Gaza—one of the most densely populated places on Earth—were challenging, in part due to long-standing blockades.
To measure the impact of the war in near real time, Daniele Rinaldo and colleagues analyzed high-resolution radar data from the Sentinel-1 satellite. Their work is published in PNAS Nexus. Reviewing images captured roughly every week through October 31, 2024, the authors found that 82% of Gaza’s land area has sustained damage at least once. The team also tracked changes in nighttime luminosity, a widely used proxy for economic activity.
Their analysis shows a 68.5% drop in nighttime light intensity caused by the damage, indicating a steep decline in both human and economic activities, with a small but significant increase observed during the November 2023 ceasefire. By linking pre-war luminosity levels to income and spending patterns, the authors estimate that the conflict caused average GDP and household welfare losses of almost 75% across Gaza, increasing to 97% for the most heavily damaged areas, amounting to a loss of some 2.6 billion USD.
According to the authors, their methodology of combining remote sensing and econometric techniques can allow real-time assessments of the economic impacts of wars and humanitarian crises, especially in areas where on-the-ground data is difficult to obtain.
Publication details
The destruction of Gaza: Satellite measurements of the economic cost of war, PNAS Nexus (2026). doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag135
The content is provided for information purposes only.