Gaza — One year after the brokering of a Gaza ceasefire agreement, more than 100 humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations have issued a stark warning that the truce exists merely in name. According to aid agencies, Israeli forces continue to kill and injure Palestinians on a daily basis, while severe restrictions on incoming aid, specialized equipment, and vital rebuilding materials are actively preventing families from beginning the arduous process of recovery.
The coalition of organizations working across the occupied Palestinian territory has emphasized that the ongoing killing and systemic deprivation must not be normalized under the protective cover of a nominal ceasefire agreement.
Over the past year, relentless Israeli military operations, airstrikes, and targeted shootings have claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children. Amid the vast expanses of debris, grieving families and exhausted rescue workers have been forced to recover hundreds of bodies from the rubble using little more than their bare hands. This desperate measure is necessitated by ongoing Israeli restrictions that ban the entry of heavy machinery and specialized equipment required to safely reach those trapped underneath collapsed structures. Countless more victims remain buried and entirely unreachable.
Compounding the physical destruction, the Israeli military has advanced and shifted the so-called Yellow Line further into the Gaza Strip, pushing it well beyond the original withdrawal boundary established in the ceasefire agreement. This tactical expansion has squeezed the surviving Palestinian population into an increasingly small, highly congested, and overcrowded zone, severely curtailing space for living, humanitarian staging, and basic survival.
Recent high-resolution satellite imagery underscores the staggering scale of devastation inflicted by Israeli forces across the enclave. Entire 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 throughout Gaza have sustained varying degrees of damage, with approximately two-thirds completely destroyed.
With winter fast approaching, hundreds of thousands of displaced families remain stranded in temporary tents, makeshift shelters, or precariously damaged homes. These vulnerable populations now face their fourth consecutive winter entirely exposed to freezing temperatures, biting winds, and severe flooding. Compounding this vulnerability, nearly one in four households in Gaza is now headed by a woman, and these single-caregiver families face a drastically elevated risk of residing in unsafe, substandard, or completely inadequate shelters.
For a vast number of residents, there is simply no safe refuge left to turn to. Many families have little choice but to shelter inside structurally compromised, war-damaged buildings that hover on the brink of collapse. The lethal danger of this reality was brutally underscored in September, when a severely damaged building in Gaza City suddenly collapsed, instantly killing 21 people, including 12 children.
Civil society leaders have expressed profound outrage at the international community’s failure to enforce meaningful improvements on the ground.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, did not mince words regarding the current stalemate. "It is utterly shameful that a full year after the ceasefire was signed, so little has improved for Palestinians in Gaza," Egeland stated. "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 paralyzing restrictions have similarly crippled Gaza’s essential public services and healthcare infrastructure. Today, not a single one of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is fully functioning. Essential medicines, surgical equipment, and desperately needed fuel remain critically scarce across the board. Newborn babies struggling for survival in neonatal incubators, patients requiring continuous oxygen or intensive care, older residents, and individuals coping with disabilities and life-altering injuries are among those facing acute, life-threatening risks. Specialized treatment, comprehensive rehabilitation, and vital assistive services remain severely restricted or entirely unavailable.
The medical evacuation crisis remains equally catastrophic. More than 18,500 patients—including a minimum of 4,000 children—still urgently require medical evacuation out of the enclave to receive life-saving care that is locally unavailable. Tragically, over 1,000 patients have already died while waiting for authorization and passage.
Simultaneously, the threat of mass starvation looms larger than ever. Up to 1.4 million people across Gaza are currently facing crisis-level hunger or worse as the year draws to a close. This food insecurity is exacerbated by unsafe drinking water and utterly devastated sanitation systems, which continue to drive the relentless spread of preventable diseases throughout the crowded camps and damaged neighborhoods.
For local organizations operating on the front lines, the operational environment remains exceptionally hostile. Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a Board Member of the Palestinian NGO Network, highlighted the immense pressure facing local responders.
"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."
Echoing these deep concerns for the younger generation, Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, emphasized the psychological and physical toll being exacted on youth.
"A ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families are still unable to rebuild their lives," Ashing noted. "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."
A year on, human rights advocates argue that the prevailing pattern on the ground is unmistakable and damning. Families continue to be killed, children continue to succumb to entirely preventable illnesses, and the landscape remains heavily littered with unexploded ordnance. Homes lie untouched in impenetrable piles of rubble, and life-saving aid is routinely blocked from reaching the people who need it most.
Observers note that these grim realities do not reflect the intended outcome of a genuine ceasefire. Instead, they mirror the very conditions that prompted the UN Commission of Inquiry—in conclusions issued in September 2025 and reaffirmed in June 2026—to determine that Israel has committed genocide. Humanitarian leaders maintain that the responsibilities of the international community extend far beyond the drafting of an agreement on paper.
Agnes Callmard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, underscored the critical need for global accountability. "Accountability cannot be swept under the rubble," Callmard stated. "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."