Gaza war: Angelina Jolie shares before-and-after satellite images of destruction, calls for urgent aid

Hollywood actress and former special envoy to the UN refugee agency Angelina Jolie has shared satellite images on Instagram showing parts of Gaza before and after the war, highlighting the scale of destruction and the humanitarian needs facing residents.

“You can now open Google Earth and see what was done to Gaza,” Jolie wrote in an Instagram post.

Jolie said “whole neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble”, while homes, schools, universities, hospitals, roads, water and sanitation systems and other infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed.

She cited UN satellite analysis showing that, as of June 16, 2026, 82 per cent of structures in Gaza had been damaged, with roughly two-thirds of those assessed as destroyed.

Jolie said 1.98 million people, or 94 per cent of Gaza’s population, need shelter assistance and essential items as winter approaches.

She said aid and shelter materials continued to face restrictions and delays, calling for humanitarian assistance to reach civilians at the scale required.

“People need shelter before winter. Humanitarian aid needs to reach civilians at the scale required. Hospitals need medical supplies,” she wrote.

Jolie said satellite images could show the physical destruction but could not capture the impact on families who had been killed or what life was like for those who survived.

She said conditions should be created to allow civilians to rebuild their homes, schools, hospitals and communities.

“The destruction is visible. The needs are known. What matters now is whether they are met,” Jolie wrote.

Jolie also previously travelled to Egypt on January 3, 2026, visiting the Rafah Crossing as part of a humanitarian trip, according to a statement from her representatives.

During the visit, she met aid workers from the Egyptian Red Crescent and other local organisations and discussed efforts to deliver assistance to Gaza.

Jolie said she had seen warehouses containing aid, including medical supplies, that had been denied entry into Gaza.

“What needs to happen is clear: the ceasefire must hold, and access must be sustained, safe and urgently scaled up so that aid, fuel and critical medical supplies can move quickly and consistently, at the volume required,” she said at the time.

She also called for winter supplies and essential medical equipment to be delivered without delay and thanked volunteers involved in humanitarian relief efforts.