The latest satellite imagery of Gaza should stop the world in its tracks!
Google Maps has recently updated much of its imagery of Gaza with photographs from February 2026. Viewed from above, entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, roads cut through areas that were once densely populated, and vast stretches of what used to be homes and communities have simply disappeared.
These are not merely disturbing photographs. They are a record of an enormous human failure.
Long before these latest images appeared on Google Maps, UN satellite analysis had already documented the scale of the destruction. UNOSAT estimated that by October 2025 approximately 81% of all structures in Gaza had been damaged, including more than 123,000 structures classified as destroyed.
Look at the images and ask yourself a simple question:
How did the world allow this to happen?
Humanity has repeatedly promised that after Rwanda, after Bosnia, and after so many other catastrophes, we would recognize the warning signs earlier. We created international institutions, conventions and courts because supposedly we had learned that looking away while civilian populations are devastated cannot be acceptable.
And yet here we are again, looking at the ruins from space.
I also cannot avoid wondering whether the international response would have been the same had another country carried out destruction on this scale. Imagine that these satellite photographs showed a Syrian, Iranian or Russian military campaign flattening such a large proportion of a densely populated territory. Would Western governments have responded with the same degree of restraint then? Would they have continued providing political and military support while the destruction unfolded?
It is a hypothetical question, so none of us can prove the answer. But it is a question the democratic world should be willing to confront. And it is a question to which my answer is no, the response would not have been the same if another country other than Israel were behind this outright annihilation of a society.
Israel’s security concerns do not erase the humanity of Palestinians. The crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, which could have been carried out with Netanyahu being aware of the attack beforehand, do not make every Palestinian responsible for them. And no government should be placed beyond meaningful scrutiny simply because of its alliances or its history.
The scale of what has happened in Gaza demands more than carefully worded expressions of concern
It demands accountability.
It demands that governments apply the principles they claim to believe in consistently, regardless of which country is responsible.
And above all, it demands action.
I do not understand how anyone can look at these images and regard what they show as normal, acceptable or inevitable. Whatever political position a person begins with, the obliteration of homes, neighborhoods and the physical fabric of an entire society should horrify us.
These satellite images may eventually become part of the historical record of this period.
The uncomfortable question for the rest of us is what that record will say about our response.
We cannot keep saying never again only after the ruins have already been photographed.
The pictures of Gaza should be a warning.
Related reading: Criticizing Israel Is Not the Same as Being Antisemitic.