A year after a US-backed ceasefire took effect in Gaza, more than 100 humanitarian and human rights organisations say it exists only on paper. They say more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since, and that restrictions on aid and building materials are preventing any recovery.
One year after a ceasefire in Gaza was reached with United States backing, it exists only on paper, according to more than 100 humanitarian, human rights and civil society organisations, Al Jazeera reported.
“The ceasefire exists in name only, with Israeli forces continuing to kill and injure Palestinians daily, and restrictions on aid, equipment and rebuilding materials preventing families from recovering,” the groups said in a joint statement on Friday, October 9.
The signatories include Amnesty International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Oxfam and Greenpeace.
The Figures in the Statement
The organisations said that in the year since the deal was announced, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children.
The ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.
What the Aid Groups Said
“It is utterly shameful that a full year after the ceasefire was signed, so little has improved for Palestinians in Gaza,” said Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“A ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families are still unable to rebuild their lives,” said Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children.
Egeland said Israeli restrictions are still keeping out the equipment and materials that communities need in order to rebuild.
Health and Shelter
The following figures come from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, as reported by Al Jazeera:
- None of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is operating at full capacity
- More than 18,500 patients, including at least 4,000 children, need medical evacuation
- More than 1,000 people have died while waiting for evacuation
- More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and 175,000 wounded in three years of war
The ministry counts only deaths recorded at hospitals or officially registered.
The joint statement said almost 2 million people need shelter, with 80 percent of structures damaged, and that 1.4 million people face crisis-level hunger or worse through the end of the year.
The World Health Organization estimates that roughly 24 percent of the wounded have life-changing injuries requiring long-term rehabilitation. A quarter of them are children.
The ‘Yellow Line’
The groups also said Israeli forces had squeezed the population into a more crowded area by arbitrarily moving the so-called “Yellow Line”. The line was established under last year’s framework as a buffer between Israeli-controlled areas and Palestinians.
This Week
On Thursday, at least eight Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in Israeli air strikes and shelling across Gaza, Al Jazeera reported. On Friday, Israeli forces shot dead at least one person in the centre of the territory.
The report did not include a response from the Israeli government to the joint statement.
Image: Destruction in Gaza in October 2023 (file photo). Photo by WAFA via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
