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. According to coalitions monitoring the situation on the ground, Israeli forces have continued to kill and injure Palestinians daily over the past twelve months. Ongoing restrictions on humanitarian aid, heavy equipment, and rebuilding materials have systematically prevented families and communities from recovering from years of devastation.
The stark assessment was released jointly by international and local agencies operating within the occupied Palestinian territory, who cautioned that the extreme levels of killing and deprivation in Gaza must not be normalized under the protective cover of a nominal ceasefire agreement.
Data compiled over the past year underscores the ongoing human cost of the conflict. Since the ceasefire announcement, Israeli military operations, strikes, and shootings have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children. This equates to roughly one Palestinian killed or wounded in Gaza every 90 minutes.
Families and emergency rescue workers have been forced to recover hundreds of decomposing bodies directly from the rubble using their bare hands. This desperate measure is necessitated by Israeli authorities’ continued restrictions on the entry of heavy machinery, cranes, and specialized excavation equipment needed to safely reach collapsed structures. Consequently, countless more bodies remain buried and unreachable beneath the concrete debris of flattened neighborhoods.
At the same time, the Israeli military has advanced the boundaries of the so-called Yellow Line deeper into the Gaza Strip, pushing far beyond the formal withdrawal line stipulated in the original agreement. This tactical shift has further squeezed the surviving Palestinian population into an increasingly small, highly congested, and overcrowded zone, severely limiting access to basic resources, secure living space, and humanitarian relief distribution points.
The scale of physical destruction across the territory remains unprecedented. Recent satellite imagery highlights the profound devastation wrought by Israeli forces, with entire urban neighborhoods reduced to fine rubble, residential homes completely flattened, and vital agricultural lands systematically razed. Comprehensive assessments indicate that more than 80% of all structures across the Gaza Strip have sustained varying degrees of damage, with approximately two-thirds of all buildings completely destroyed.
Local civil society organizations, operating under immense strain, continue to struggle against overwhelming odds. Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a board member of the Palestinian NGO Network, emphasized the precarious environment in which local human rights defenders and humanitarian workers operate.
"Palestinian organizations are responding to immense needs under Israeli occupation with destroyed offices, displaced staff, and shrinking budgets," Abu Ramadan said. "Local and national organizations 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 direct flexible funding to meet the needs."
The plight of children remains particularly acute, according to child rights advocates. Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, pointed out the grim reality facing the youngest residents of the territory, noting that nearly one child has been killed every single 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. "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."
As winter approaches, environmental hardships are compounding the human suffering. Hundreds of thousands of families continue to live exposed in threadbare tents, temporary makeshift shelters, or severely damaged homes. They now face their fourth consecutive winter completely exposed to freezing temperatures, biting winds, and seasonal flooding.
Demographic vulnerabilities have also shifted dramatically. Nearly one in every four households in the Gaza Strip is now headed by a woman. These female-headed households are disproportionately vulnerable, facing significantly higher risks of residing in unsafe, structurally compromised, or entirely inadequate shelters.
With virtually nowhere safe to go, many desperate families have resorted to sheltering inside structurally compromised buildings that remain at immediate risk of sudden collapse. The deadly consequences of this housing shortage were laid bare in September, when 21 people—including 12 children—were killed instantly when a heavily damaged residential building collapsed entirely in Gaza City.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, expressed outrage at the lack of tangible progress over the past year.
"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."
These persistent blockades and material restrictions have similarly devastated essential public services, most notably the healthcare sector. Not a single one of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is currently functioning at full capacity. Critical supplies, including life-saving medicines, specialized medical equipment, and fuel required to run generators, remain in critically short supply.
Acute medical risks threaten society’s most vulnerable groups. Newborn babies dependent on incubator technology, patients requiring continuous oxygen therapy or intensive care admission, older persons, and individuals with disabilities or life-threatening injuries face imminent danger. Specialized medical treatment, post-traumatic rehabilitation, and assistive device services remain severely restricted or entirely unavailable.
The medical evacuation crisis has similarly compounded the death toll. More than 18,500 patients, including at least 4,000 children, remain stranded inside Gaza and urgently require specialized medical evacuation abroad. To date, over 1,000 patients have died while waiting for permits and clearance to leave the territory for essential care.
Food security has deteriorated concurrently. An estimated 1.4 million people across the territory are facing crisis-level hunger or worse as the year draws to a close. At the same time, the combination of unsafe drinking water and completely shattered sanitation infrastructure continues to drive the rapid spread of entirely preventable infectious diseases.
Human rights experts emphasize that the current conditions mirror the systemic patterns that previously prompted international judicial scrutiny. The ongoing reality—marked by ongoing killings, children dying from preventable illnesses, unexploded ordnance littering streets, and blocked aid—reflects the very conditions that led the UN Commission of Inquiry, in reports issued in September 2025 and June 2026, to conclude that Israel has committed genocide. Aid agencies stress 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, underscored the urgent need for international accountability and adherence to global legal standards.
"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."