Financial Times corrects on ‘destroyed’ Gaza buildings claim

By: Adam Levick July 3, 2026

On June 29, we complained to Financial Times (FT) editors about an article published that day, written by Heba Saleh and Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper, titled “Gazans turn to clay and rubble to build new homes,” which claimed that “Almost all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by two years of Israeli bombardment.” [Emphasis added.]

However, in addition to the article’s erasure of the war with Hamas as a relevant factor behind the damage to buildings in the territory, the most recent United Nations data, in October 2025, after the ceasefire began, shows that the article’s claim is not accurate.
Here’s the relevant paragraph from the U.N. report:

According to satellite imagery analysis, as of 11 October 2025, approximately 81% of all structures in the Gaza Strip are damaged. Among the damaged structures, UNOSAT identified 123,464 destroyed structures, 17,116 severely damaged structures, 33,857 moderately damaged structures, and 23,836 possibly damaged structures for a total of 198,273 affected structures

So, if they were to base their determination on the U.N.’s data, it would have been more accurate to say that most have been damaged or destroyed.
In fact, the FT itself published an article on Oct. 3, 2025, which was based on U.N. data and was far more accurate.

The latest UN assessment, based on satellite imagery published on August 6, shows that 78 per cent of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged and more than half of them completely destroyed.

So, we argued in our email to the FT, it’s clearly not true that, as the June 29 article claimed, “almost all buildings” in Gaza have been destroyed.
Editors upheld our complaint and amended the relevant sentence, which now reads:
The vast majority of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by two years of Israeli bombardment.

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