Gaza — One year after a ceasefire agreement was officially reached in the Gaza Strip, a coalition of more than 100 humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations has issued a stark warning: the agreement exists in name only. According to the reporting and joint assessments of these international and local bodies, Israeli military forces continue to kill and injure Palestinians on a daily basis. At the same time, crippling restrictions on humanitarian aid, essential equipment, and rebuilding materials are preventing families from achieving any semblance of recovery.
The coalition emphasized that the ongoing killing, destruction, and systemic deprivation in Gaza must not be normalized under the protective cover of a nominal ceasefire agreement. Over the past twelve months, the humanitarian reality on the ground has deteriorated even further under the weight of continued blockades and military actions.
The human cost of this past year is staggering. Over the last 365 days, Israeli strikes, shootings, and ongoing military operations have claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians. Among the dead are at least 327 children, reflecting a toll that international aid groups say violates the very premise of a protected truce. Families and rescue workers have been forced to recover hundreds of bodies directly from the rubble using their bare hands because Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of heavy machinery, cranes, and specialized rescue equipment needed to clear collapsed structures. Many more bodies remain buried and unreachable beneath the concrete dust of flattened neighborhoods.
Compounding the violence, the Israeli military has shifted the so-called Yellow Line further into the interior of the Gaza Strip, moving beyond the withdrawal line originally established in the ceasefire agreement. This tactical shift has squeezed the surviving Palestinian population into an increasingly small, highly congested, and overcrowded zone, severely limiting access to basic resources and compounding daily hardships.
Satellite imagery captured recently underscores the sheer scale of the devastation inflicted by Israeli forces across the territory. Neighborhoods have been systematically reduced to piles of rubble, residential homes have been flattened to their foundations, and once-fertile agricultural lands have been thoroughly razed. Estimates indicate that more than 80% of all structures across the Gaza Strip have sustained varying degrees of damage, with approximately two-thirds completely destroyed.
This destruction has left hundreds of thousands of families facing the grim prospect of a fourth consecutive winter exposed to biting cold, wind, and seasonal flooding. With permanent housing virtually non-existent, these families are forced to live in temporary tents, makeshift shelters, or severely damaged, structurally compromised homes. The vulnerability of the population is further pronounced by demographic realities: nearly one in four households in Gaza is now headed by a woman, and these families are disproportionately more likely to be living in unsafe, inadequate, or entirely exposed shelters.
For many, there is simply no safe place left to turn. Driven by desperation, families continue to shelter in war-damaged buildings that face a constant risk of structural collapse. The deadly consequences of this housing crisis were tragically illustrated in September, when a severely damaged building in Gaza City suddenly collapsed, killing 21 people, including 12 children.
The crisis is equally acute within the medical sector, where administrative and physical restrictions have devastated essential services. Not a single one of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is currently fully functioning. Essential medicines, specialized medical equipment, and fuel remain in critically short supply, threatening the lives of the most vulnerable patients. Newborn babies dependent on incubators, patients requiring continuous oxygen or intensive care, older residents, and individuals living with disabilities or life-changing injuries face acute, daily risks as specialized treatment, rehabilitation, and assistive devices remain severely limited.
The backlog of patients requiring critical medical care outside the territory remains immense. More than 18,500 patients, including at least 4,000 children, are still waiting for medical evacuation, while over 1,000 people have already died while waiting for permission to leave for life-saving treatment.
Food security has similarly collapsed. An estimated 1.4 million people 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 devastated sanitation systems continues to drive the rapid spread of preventable waterborne diseases.
Local civil society leaders and international humanitarian chiefs have voiced profound frustration over the international community’s failure to enforce compliance or alleviate the suffering. Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a board member of the Palestinian NGO Network, highlighted the immense pressure facing local institutions on the ground.
"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 concerns, Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children, underscored the betrayal felt by the territory’s youngest residents under the failing agreement.
"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."
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, directed sharp criticism at global leaders for allowing the humanitarian blockade to persist unchecked for an entire 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."
The pattern of deprivation and violence observed over the past year mirrors the conditions that prompted the UN Commission of Inquiry, in separate reports published in September 2025 and June 2026, to conclude that Israel has committed genocide. Humanitarian leaders argue that the international community’s responsibility does not conclude with the mere signing of a paper agreement.
Agnes Callmard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, emphasized the absolute necessity of legal accountability in moving forward.
"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."