Gaza — One year after a ceasefire agreement was officially reached to halt the devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip, a coalition of more than 100 humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations has issued a stark warning: the ceasefire exists in name only. According to the reporting organizations, Israeli military forces have continued to kill and injure Palestinians on a daily basis, while severe, ongoing restrictions on humanitarian aid, heavy equipment, and rebuilding materials have completely paralyzed local recovery efforts.
The coalition underscored that the routine killing and extreme deprivation currently prevailing in Gaza must not be normalized under the protective cover of a nominal ceasefire agreement. Over the past year, the humanitarian landscape has remained defined by catastrophic loss, widespread infrastructural destruction, and systemic barriers that prevent civilians from rebuilding their lives.
Persistent Violence and Casualties Since the Ceasefire
Data compiled over the past twelve months reveals a relentless toll on the civilian population. Israeli strikes, shootings, and ongoing military operations have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians since the ceasefire was announced, a figure that includes at least 327 children. This equates to approximately one Palestinian killed or wounded in Gaza every 90 minutes.
Throughout the enclave, families and rescue workers have been forced to recover hundreds of bodies directly from the rubble using their bare hands. This desperate measure is necessitated by Israeli restrictions that prohibit the entry of the heavy machinery and specialized equipment required to safely lift collapsed concrete and reach those trapped beneath. Many more bodies remain buried and entirely unreachable.
Compounding the violence, the Israeli military has physically shifted the so-called Yellow Line further into the interior of the Gaza Strip, pushing past the original withdrawal boundaries established in the ceasefire agreement. This tactical shift has severely squeezed the Palestinian population into an increasingly narrow, highly congested zone, drastically reducing the space available for safe living, temporary housing, or the delivery of assistance.
Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a board member of the Palestinian NGO Network, emphasized the immense strain under which local organizations continue to operate. "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 Impact on Children and Families
The prolonged deprivation has fallen heaviest on children, who constitute a massive demographic among the victims. Ingesting the daily reality of loss, trauma, and displacement, nearly one child has been killed every single day since the ceasefire was announced.
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, voiced profound concern over the unfulfilled promise of the truce. "A ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families are still unable to rebuild their lives," Ashing stated. "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 starkly illustrates the sheer scale of the devastation engineered by Israeli forces. Neighborhoods have been systematically reduced to pulverized rubble, residential homes flattened, and vital agricultural lands thoroughly razed. Assessments indicate that more than 80% of all structures across the Gaza Strip have sustained damage, with approximately two-thirds completely destroyed.
A Fourth Winter of Displacement and Unsafe Shelter
As winter approaches, hundreds of thousands of displaced families continue to live in precarious tents, improvised makeshift shelters, or severely damaged, structurally unsound homes. They are now facing their fourth consecutive winter completely exposed to biting cold, freezing winds, and heavy seasonal flooding.
Demographic vulnerabilities have deepened the crisis. Nearly one in four households in Gaza is currently headed by a woman, and these single-parent families are disproportionately relegated to unsafe, substandard, and grossly inadequate shelters.
With virtually nowhere safe to go, many families have resorted to sheltering in war-damaged buildings that face an imminent risk of sudden collapse. The fatal consequences of this housing deficit were underscored in September, when 21 people—including 12 children—were killed instantly when a heavily damaged residential building collapsed in Gaza City.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the international failure to improve conditions on the ground. "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."
Collapsing Healthcare and Acute Hunger
The same administrative and physical restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities have devastated Gaza’s essential public services, pushing the civil infrastructure to the absolute brink of total collapse. Not a single one of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is currently fully functioning. Essential medicines, advanced medical equipment, and vital fuel supplies remain critically scarce.
Vulnerable patients—including newborn babies dependent on fragile incubators, individuals requiring continuous oxygen or intensive care, older persons, and citizens living with disabilities or life-changing injuries—face acute, daily risks. Specialized medical treatment, physical rehabilitation, and assistive services remain severely restricted or entirely unavailable.
The backlog of patients requiring critical medical evacuation outside the enclave stands at over 18,500 people, a total that includes at least 4,000 children. Tragically, more than 1,000 patients have already died while waiting indefinitely for permission to leave for life-saving medical care.
Simultaneously, the food security situation remains catastrophic. An estimated 1.4 million people are currently facing crisis-level hunger or worse as the year draws to a close. Compounding the nutritional emergency, unsafe drinking water and thoroughly devastated sanitation and sewage systems continue to drive the rapid, unchecked spread of preventable diseases across the crowded encampments.
Calls for Accountability and International Action
Human rights advocates argue that the grim realities on the ground reflect an undeniable pattern. Families continue to be killed, children continue to die from preventable illnesses, and the landscape remains heavily littered with dangerous unexploded ordnance. Homes lie buried beneath rubble that cannot be cleared, and essential aid remains blocked from reaching those who need it most.
Experts note that these conditions closely mirror the catastrophic environment that previously led the UN Commission of Inquiry, in reports issued in September 2025 and June 2026, to conclude that Israel has committed acts of genocide. Civil society leaders maintain that the international community’s moral and legal responsibilities do not conclude simply because an agreement was signed on paper.
Agnes Callmard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, emphasized the absolute necessity of legal accountability. "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."