At night, the Gauze It’s almost invisible. According to an AFP analysis based on NASA satellite data, the Gaza Strip is currently (30.07.2025) seven times less enlightened compared to before Hamas attack on Israel On October 7, 2023.
Worse still: Only the city of Gaza has a level of brightness 16 times lower than that recorded between May and September 2023.
Since October 9, 2023, the area has been under Israel’s “collective punishment” status: neither electricity, nor water, nor fuel.
City without light, population without electricity
In 2022, the residents of Gaza had an average of 12 hours a day. In 2024, this number is zero.
The only thermoelectric station stopped operating two days after the start of Israeli retaliation due to lack of fuel. At the same time, the electricity lines from Israel were cut off. Both of these sources covered only 43% of total demand in the enclave.
Heaven reveals the darkness
The study is based on the program Black Marble of NASA, which records the brightness of the surface of the Earth daily. In Gaza, 2,100 different points are analyzed every 500 meters.
The collapse of lighting was already recorded on October 10, the day after the power plant was shut down.
Many areas that were inhabited before the war today appear as dark as deserted zones such as the Sinai peninsula. Only a few points – such as hospitals with generators – remain bright, including the European Hospital in Han Younes, which appears 70% brighter than the rest of the province.
Only one zone remains illuminated: she under Israeli check
The only area of Gaza that maintains a stable night lighting is the Philadelphia corridor on the border with Egypt, which is under the control of the Israeli army.
At its southeast end, the Kerrem Salom passage, through which humanitarian aid trucks pass through, is the only point that remains as bright as before the war.
The war broke out after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, with 1,219 dead in Israel, mainly civilians. In response, the Israeli attacks caused at least 60,000 dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas health ministry – data that the UN considers reliable.