Gaza — One year after a ceasefire agreement was officially reached, more than 100 humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations have warned that the pact exists in name only. Amid persistent military operations, severe restrictions on essential goods, and blocked reconstruction efforts, civilian suffering in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic.
According to humanitarian groups, Israeli forces have continued to kill and injure Palestinians on a daily basis over the past year. The ongoing deprivation and violence, aid organizations cautioned, must not be normalized under the protective cover of an ineffective ceasefire agreement.
Data compiled over the past twelve months reveals the staggering human cost of the ongoing hostilities. Israeli strikes, shootings, and military operations have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children. Throughout the enclave, families and rescue workers have been forced to recover hundreds of bodies from the rubble using their bare hands. This grim reality persists because Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of heavy machinery and essential equipment needed to clear debris and reach trapped victims, leaving many more bodies buried and unreachable.
Furthermore, the humanitarian situation has been exacerbated by territorial shifts on the ground. The Israeli military has advanced the so-called Yellow Line further into Gaza, pushing well beyond the initial withdrawal line established in the ceasefire agreement. This tactical expansion has squeezed the Palestinian population into an increasingly small, congested, and overcrowded area, drastically reducing the space available for safe habitation and relief operations.
Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a board member of the Palestinian NGO Network, emphasized the immense pressure local responders face while operating under extreme constraints.
"Palestinian organisations are responding to immense needs under Israeli occupation with destroyed offices, displaced staff, and shrinking budgets," Abu Ramadan said. "Local and national organisations are first responders and will remain, but we need to be protected. Governments must act to end Israel’s attacks and restrictions on our work and donors must provide direct, flexible funding to meet the needs."
The psychological and physical toll on children has been a focal point for international child-rights organizations. Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children, underscored the grim reality faced by the younger population in Gaza, where nearly one child has been killed every day since the ceasefire was announced.
"A ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families are still unable to rebuild their lives," Ashing said. "Since the ceasefire was announced, nearly one child has been killed every day. Families remain trapped in a devastating cycle of loss and deprivation, unable to recover. Governments that backed this agreement must use their influence to stop the killing and ensure children can access food, healthcare, shelter and education. Gaza’s children have a right to safety and a future. Governments have the power to help secure both, and they must use it."
Recent satellite imagery underscores the vast scale of physical devastation inflicted across the territory. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, residential homes flattened, and vital agricultural lands systematically razed. Assessments indicate that more than 80% of all structures across Gaza have sustained damage, with approximately two-thirds of those structures completely destroyed.
With winter fast approaching, hundreds of thousands of displaced families continue to live in fragile tents, makeshift shelters, or severely damaged homes. This population is now bracing for a fourth consecutive winter exposed to biting cold, high winds, and severe flooding. The crisis is particularly acute for vulnerable demographics; nearly one in four households in Gaza is currently headed by a woman, and these families face a significantly higher risk of living in unsafe, inadequate, or entirely exposed housing conditions.
For a population with virtually nowhere safe to turn, desperation has led to fatal compromises. Families frequently seek shelter in war-damaged buildings that face a constant risk of structural collapse. The dangers of this precarious housing were tragically highlighted in September, when 21 people—including 12 children—were killed in Gaza City when a compromised residential building suddenly collapsed.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, expressed strong condemnation over the lack of progress a full year after the diplomatic breakthrough.
"It is utterly shameful that a full year after the ceasefire was signed, so little has improved for Palestinians in Gaza," Egeland said. "Families are still being forced to make impossible choices, between sheltering in damaged and dangerous buildings or living in tents facing unbearable temperatures. Israeli restrictions are still preventing the required equipment or materials, which are the only ways for communities to begin rebuilding their lives. As winter approaches, all governments must take concrete steps to ensure that the flow of aid increases without hindrance, so that Palestinians can finally begin the vast task of recovery and reconstruction."
The systematic restrictions imposed on the territory have crippled essential civic and medical services. Not a single one of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is currently fully functioning. Essential medical supplies, advanced equipment, and specialized fuel remain in critically short supply. The collapse of the healthcare infrastructure places the most vulnerable populations at acute risk. Newborn babies in incubators, patients dependent on oxygen supplies or intensive care units, elderly individuals, and people living with disabilities or life-changing injuries face daily threats to their survival as specialized treatment, physical rehabilitation, and assistive services remain severely limited.
The medical evacuation pipeline remains heavily choked. More than 18,500 patients, including at least 4,000 children, are still waiting for urgent medical evacuation out of the Gaza Strip, while more than 1,000 patients have already died while waiting for approval or passage.
Simultaneously, the threat of hunger and disease continues to expand. Approximately 1.4 million people across the enclave are facing crisis-level hunger or worse as the year draws to a close. At the same time, access to safe drinking water remains severely compromised, and devastated sanitation systems continue to fuel the unchecked spread of preventable diseases.
Human rights advocates argue that the persistent conditions on the ground mirror the systemic failures that previously prompted the UN Commission of Inquiry—in reports issued in September 2025 and June 2026—to conclude that Israel has committed genocide. Civil society leaders emphasize that the international community’s legal and moral responsibility does not end with the signing of a diplomatic agreement on paper.
Agnes Callmard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, stressed the absolute necessity of holding perpetrators accountable under international law.
"Accountability cannot be swept under the rubble," Callmard said. "The recovery and future of Gaza cannot be separated from a framework grounded in international law, justice, and the rights of victims. The persistent failure to hold Israel accountable and press Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s binding orders continues to fuel the atrocity crimes on a mass scale against Palestinians."