Casualties since the truce
At least 1,481 Palestinians have been killed and 5,254 wounded since the ceasefire came into force on October 10, 2025, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday, as quoted by Al Jazeera. The Associated Press, citing the same ministry, put the toll at more than 1,400. The ministry says more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to AP.
The anniversary itself was marked by further deaths. Medical sources told Al Jazeera that eight people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday, mostly in Gaza City. AP reported that sporadic attacks have killed five Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the truce began, and that Israel regularly strikes people it accuses of violating the ceasefire, including those who approach the “yellow line” separating areas under its control.
Estimates of how much of the enclave Israel now controls vary. AP said Israeli forces hold more than half of Gaza, while AFP and Middle East Eye put the figure at around 70 percent, saying the line has been pushed westward since the agreement.
Dire humanitarian conditions
Nearly all of Gaza’s more than two million residents were displaced at least once during the war, and most still live in tents, damaged buildings or shelters built from rubble, according to AFP and AP. Around 80 percent of structures have been damaged or destroyed, according to figures cited by AFP and by a group of aid organisations.
About 1.4 million people face crisis levels of hunger or worse, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera reported. Residents say limited aid deliveries through Israeli-controlled crossings keep the prices of basic goods high, and overcrowding has fuelled disease in displacement camps, AFP reported.
On Friday, more than 100 humanitarian and rights groups, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a joint statement that the ceasefire “exists in name only.” Many Gazans share that view. “It has been a full year since the ceasefire was declared, yet it exists only on paper,” Ahmed Shawan, a doctor at a hospital in Khan Younis, told AFP.
Next phase stalled
Reconstruction has not begun, according to AFP and AP. A committee of Palestinian technocrats meant to take over civil administration from Hamas has not assumed control, and the International Stabilization Force (ISF) envisaged under the plan has yet to deploy, the agencies reported.
In late July, the US-led Board of Peace announced a roadmap, finalised by mediators Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States, under which Hamas would surrender its weapons in stages linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, Al Jazeera reported at the time. Hamas has said it accepts disarmament but ties it to Israel halting its strikes and withdrawing its forces, according to AP.
Israel rejected the document in August. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed,” Al Jazeera reported, a position AP said he has maintained. Hamas said at the time it remained committed to the plan and urged mediators and guarantor states to “assume their responsibilities.” The Trump administration argues that disarmament and the other steps should proceed simultaneously, AP reported.
With Israeli elections approaching, AP said Netanyahu has little room for compromise before a new government is formed, a process that could take months.
