Gaza ceasefire exists only on paper, over 100 organizations warn

One year after the Gaza ceasefire agreement was reached, more than 100 humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations say the truce exists in name only, as Israeli forces continue to kill and injure Palestinians daily and restrictions on aid, equipment, and rebuilding materials prevent families from recovering, according to a press release issued by Amnesty International on 9 October 2026. The signatories caution that the killing and deprivation in Gaza must not be normalized under the cover of the agreement. Nearly two million people still need shelter, not a single hospital is fully functioning, and 1.4 million face crisis-level hunger. The organizations are calling on governments to use their influence to halt attacks and ease restrictions. They stress that accountability cannot be set aside.

Over the past year, Israeli strikes, shootings, and military operations have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children. Families and rescue workers have recovered hundreds of bodies from the rubble, often with their bare hands, as Israeli authorities restrict the entry of machinery needed to reach them. Many more remain buried and unreachable. The Israeli military has also moved the so-called Yellow Line further into Gaza, beyond the withdrawal line set out in the agreement. Palestinians are being squeezed into an increasingly small and overcrowded area.

Recent satellite imagery shows that more than 80% of structures across Gaza have been damaged, including around two-thirds that have been destroyed. As winter approaches, hundreds of thousands of families still live in tents, makeshift shelters, or damaged homes, facing a fourth winter exposed to cold, wind, and flooding. Nearly one in four households in Gaza is now headed by a woman, and these families are far more likely to be living in unsafe or inadequate shelter. In September, 21 people, including 12 children, were killed when a damaged building collapsed in Gaza City. Agricultural land has been razed and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble.

Not one of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is fully functioning, while medicines, equipment, and fuel remain critically scarce. More than 18,500 patients, including at least 4,000 children, still need medical evacuation, and over 1,000 have died waiting. Meanwhile, 1.4 million people face crisis-level hunger or worse through the end of the year, while unsafe water and devastated sanitation systems continue to drive the spread of preventable disease.

Jan Egeland, Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary General, said: “It is utterly shameful that a full year after the ceasefire was signed, so little has improved for Palestinians in Gaza.”

He added that Israeli restrictions still block the equipment and materials needed for communities to rebuild.

A year on, families are still being killed, children are still dying of preventable illness, and Gaza remains littered with unexploded ordnance. The conditions reflect those that twice led the UN Commission of Inquiry, in September 2025 and again in June 2026, to conclude that Israel has committed genocide.

Agnes Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, said: “Accountability cannot be swept under the rubble. The recovery and future of Gaza cannot be separated from a framework grounded in international law, justice, and the rights of victims.”

She warned that the persistent failure to hold Israel accountable continues to fuel atrocity crimes on a mass scale against Palestinians. The signatories conclude that the international community’s responsibility does not end with an agreement on paper.