With the ceasefire now in effect, it hopes to bring an end to the most destructive chapter in the almost 77 year-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Gaza’s Hamas-led government estimates that 14 in every 15 homes have been damaged, with five destroyed.
The destruction has left the Gaza Strip littered with an estimated 42 million tonnes of debris, the equivalent of 180 Wembley stadiums.
The UN estimates that 69% of buildings have been damaged, with one in four (24%) totally destroyed.
Satellite images from northern Gaza capture the extent of the destruction.
Less than one kilometre west of the Indonesian Hospital, one of North Gaza’s main hospitals, entire residential neighbourhoods have been destroyed.
Alongside the destruction of physical infrastructure, tank trails, and sand fortifications indicate the current large-scale presence of the military in the north.
What does the future hold for Gaza?
The ceasefire came into force on Sunday morning after a delay. Under the terms of the deal, Israeli forces will be required to withdraw from their current positions to within 700 metres of the Gaza border.
The most immediate consequence is likely to be a rush of Palestinians returning to their homes. An estimated 1.9 million Gaza residents have been displaced since the war began – 90% of the population.
Many of them are sheltering in vast tent cities along Gaza’s shoreline, following Israel’s orders for them to flee to what it calls the Al Mawasi “humanitarian zone”.
The largest displacement took place on the sixth day of the war, when Israel gave all residents of the northern half of Gaza just six hours to flee southwards.
The ceasefire agreement stipulates that residents will be permitted to return to the north from the seventh day of the ceasefire, Sunday 26 January.
Yet it is unclear if the region can cope with an influx of returnees, especially the area to the north of Gaza City.
Image: Displaced Palestinians trying to return to their homes. Pic: Reuters
An estimated 70% of buildings in this region have been damaged or destroyed, and there is currently only one operational hospital.
The ceasefire agreement anticipates a mass exodus of people returning to the north, requiring that half of all aid be sent there.
The agreement stipulates that 600 aid trucks must be allowed to enter Gaza every day – a nine-fold increase on the month to 13 January, which saw an average of just 67 trucks enter per day.
Many agencies have a backlog of trucks filled with humanitarian aid ready to be transported into Gaza, but the extent of the damage makes prioritising a challenge.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Damage to water and sanitation facilities, for example, is extensive. Before the war, 80% of water production came from groundwater wells – aid agencies estimate that only 8% of those wells in North Gaza are now accessible.
The only seawater desalination plant in the North, which was a key source of drinking water, was destroyed in the fighting.
Even if water sources can be repaired, the infrastructure distributing it has been badly damaged. According to the WASH Cluster, a group of aid agencies, damage to pipelines in Gaza means that 70% of water sent through them is currently leaking out.
Healthcare infrastructure is also heavily damaged. According to the World Health Organisation, half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are out of service. The other half are only partially functioning, a result of shortages of medical supplies, fuel and personnel.
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While homes and infrastructure can be rebuilt, the lives lost in this devastating conflict will continue to weigh heavily on both Israeli and Palestinian society.
1,195 people were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack which sparked the war in 2023, according to Israeli authorities, including 815 civilians.
The Palestinian militant group and its allies took a further 251 people, including women and children, back to the Gaza Strip as hostages.
Israel responded with a devastating air and ground offensive that Palestinian authorities say has killed at least 46,788 people, and injured a further 110,453.
Image: People mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes. Pic: Reuters
That means one in every 14 Palestinians in Gaza has been killed or wounded since the war began.
Those figures are from Gaza’s health ministry, which is part of the territory’s Hamas-led government.
They don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but only around 41% of reported fatalities are military-age males – the rest being women, children and elderly people.
Health officials say 1,410 families have been “completely wiped out”, and a further 3,463 left with one surviving member. At least 35,055 children have lost a parent.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.