The Jabalia refugee camp, once home to thousands, has been utterly destroyed in a brutal Israeli campaign, leaving behind nothing but devastation. In an in-depth investigation, The Guardian exposes the horrifying reality through eyewitness accounts, painting a chilling picture of unimaginable suffering.

The investigation also draws on satellite images and video footage, which starkly reveal the scale of the destruction, with entire blocks reduced to rubble. This is no ordinary bombardment; it is a systematic campaign of decimation—an Israeli-led effort to erase a community in a ruthless exercise of power that has left the world, seemingly indifferent, in shock.

On the morning of October 9, 2023, the Jabalia refugee camp’s Trans area market was bustling with activity. Two days into the Israeli war on Gaza, the camp had not yet been struck by Israeli airstrikes.

Established in 1948, the camp—located just north of the city of Jabalia—had evolved into a densely populated and vibrant part of northern Gaza. Despite being labeled a "refugee camp", it was nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding urban areas, with its open market, schools, restaurants, football teams, bakeries, and clinics.

The first offensive: October 2023 – January 2024: 'Killed by a sniper'

However, between 10:30 and 11:30 am on October 9, five Israeli airstrikes hit the camp’s central market, killing dozens of people. These strikes marked the beginning of a devastating Israeli campaign, carried out in three phases, which reduced the camp to a heap of rubble, as per the report.

“This year is one of the worst I have experienced,” 33-year-old Ahlam al-Tlouli, a resident of the Tal al-Zaatar area, told The Guardian. “We have lived through destruction, killing, starvation, displacement, fear, terror and siege. Every minute that passes feels like a year.”

Jabalia endured relentless airstrikes throughout the early months of the war. The deadliest, on October 31, killed many and left large craters in a busy junction.

"Israel" claimed that Jabaliya served as a command center for Hamas' northern brigade and was home to Hamas tunnels. It forcibly displaced civilians from northern Gaza to the South, though many could not or remained resilient in their homes. “My father was at home and could not leave because he was injured and had an amputated leg,” Tlouli said. “Even if we wanted to leave, we didn’t have money to go anywhere or manage our needs.”

On November 8, Israeli troops invaded the camp. By then, most of the Tlouli family had taken shelter in schools run by UNRWA, the Palestinian refugee agency. “We took it in turns to come back to the house to check on our father,” she said. “One day when my stepmother was returning to the school, she was killed by snipers. A few days later, my father was also killed by a sniper.”

As the fighting intensified, the family moved between schools for shelter. “We were starving and without food,” Tlouli explained. “Even when food was available, we didn’t have money to buy it.”

On December 12, Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant alleged that the attack on Jabalia had ended.  In late January, "Israel" withdrew from the camp.

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The second offensive: May 2024; 'No house, person, tree or stone was spared'

The second Israeli offensive in Jabalia began on May 11, 2024, under the pretext that Hamas had rebuilt its military capabilities. This led to fresh evacuation orders, and two days later, a full-scale re-invasion commenced.

Umm Suhaib Siam, a 42-year-old widow with three children, was trapped in her home in the Fakhoura district, block 9, when the Israeli invasion began. After her house was hit by an artillery shell, injuring her and her children, the family moved to a nearby clinic for shelter. They stayed there for two days before the invading Israeli units besieged the building.

Siam told The Guardian that a man with a loudspeaker urged everyone to evacuate the clinic as it was about to be bombed. “He started showing us the way, talking on the phone, while a quadcopter flew over him. We passed through the center of the camp next to the main market, along Awda Street to the Khadamat football club.”

After three weeks, invading Israeli units withdrew, claiming to have "dismantled Hamas". However, by then, it was reported that 70% of the camp’s buildings had been heavily damaged. Drone footage from June revealed the extent of the destruction, particularly in the Fakhoura district. Siam described the damage: “All the houses were in ruins on the ground. No house, person, tree or stone was spared."

The third offensive: October 2024 – ongoing; 'Bodies on roads and under rubble'

The damage caused to Jabalia during the second offensive is dwarfed by the destruction inflicted since October 5, 2024, when Israeli forces launched their third large-scale invasion.

Throughout the operation, which targeted both the city and camp of Jabalia city, entire groups of buildings were leveled, leaving behind bulldozed lanes for Israeli armor and tank berms. In some areas, houses were demolished with charges, and footage from recent weeks shows bulldozers and bulldozers tearing down structures.

Some neighborhoods have been almost completely wiped out, such as block 4, which housed the camp’s main school complex. “There are bodies on the roads and under the rubble,” said Mahmoud Basal, a 39-year-old civil defense official. “It is total destruction.”

The Khadamat sports club, which survived previous operations and was used as a shelter, has also been devastated. The football pitch is now cleared and serves as a base for Israeli military vehicles. Khaled al-Ayla, a 54-year-old university lecturer, said, as quoted by The Guardian, “The situation in Jabaliya is like hell. Homes are demolished on top of residents … All you see is destruction … There is nothing left. No homes, schools, universities or hospitals. Nothing.”

Sam Rose, a senior deputy director for Unrwa affairs in Gaza, described the latest Israeli operations as “completely different” from prior wars. “This time they are flattening the place … it has become uninhabitable,” he said, adding, “I’ve been to Yarmouk [in Damascus, destroyed in 2015] but this is 20 times worse. I don’t think [the IDF] has a plan except just to keep going. It has an awful momentum.”

Some observers suggest a more intentional agenda in Jabalia and northern Gaza: the implementation of a scorched-earth policy, referred to as the “generals’ plan". This strategy aims to drive out civilians by declaring areas “closed military zones,” where anyone who remains is treated as a combatant and aid is withheld.

A document recently circulated to Israeli combat soldiers, disclosed by Haaretz, mentions “exposing large areas” – a term believed to describe the destruction of buildings "for preventing Hamas fighters from hiding but also making these areas uninhabitable for civilians."

Nadia Hardman from Human Rights Watch noted that HRW had observed a pattern of Israeli forces clearing areas in northern Gaza for buffer zones and security corridors. “People can argue whether the campaign of bombing is reckless destruction or part of the hostilities, but taking control of an area and intentionally destroying it looks far more systematic,” she said.

Even Israeli observers are questioning the focus on Jabalia. Michael Milstein from Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center said, “It’s a mystery I have been trying to understand myself. We all understand this operation doesn’t defeat Hamas, which obviously still exists, even in Jabalia.”

Mohammed Nasser, 48, a former television camera operator from Tal al-Zahar, told The Guardian, “The previous wars did not cause destruction like this. Homes, streets, health and educational facilities – everything is gone.”