World
Over 100 NGOs Claim Gaza Ceasefire Exists Only on Paper
Humanitarian and human‑rights organisations have said that a ceasefire reached in Gaza with U.S. backing a year ago is only nominal. A joint statement released Friday by more than 100 NGOs, including Amnesty International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Oxfam and Greenpeace, said Israeli forces continue to kill and injure Palestinians daily and that restrictions on aid, equipment and rebuilding materials prevent families from recovering.
The statement noted that Israeli attacks in the enclave have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children, in the year since President Trump announced a deal to end hostilities under the Gaza Board of Peace framework. Jan Egeland, secretary‑general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said it was “utterly shameful” that little had improved for Palestinians in Gaza after a full year.
Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children, added that a ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families cannot rebuild. She said that since the October 10, 2025 ceasefire was announced, “nearly one child has been killed every day.”
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and 175,000 wounded in the three years since Israel’s October 2023 war began, about one in every 13 people in Gaza. A conservative World Health Organization estimate suggests roughly 24 percent of the wounded have life‑changing injuries requiring long‑term rehabilitation, a quarter of whom are children.
Gaza’s remaining health facilities are overwhelmed, with dwindling supplies. None of its 36 hospitals is operating at full capacity, and shortages of medicine, equipment and fuel are widespread. The ministry statement said more than 18,500 patients, including at least 4,000 children, need medical evacuation, and more than 1,000 have died while waiting.
Almost 2 million Palestinians in the enclave are in desperate need of shelter, with 80 percent of structures damaged. Norwegian Refugee Council’s Egeland warned that Israeli restrictions on equipment and construction materials continue to prevent recovery. He said, “Israeli restrictions are still preventing the required equipment or materials, which are the only ways for communities to begin rebuilding their lives.”
The statement also noted that 1.4 million people in Gaza are “facing crisis‑level hunger or worse through the end of the year.”
On Friday, Israeli forces shot dead at least one Palestinian after firing live ammunition at civilians in the al‑Musaddar, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camp areas in the centre of the Strip, which also came under heavy Israeli artillery shelling. In Khan Younis in the south, Israeli tanks directed heavy fire toward the Bani Suheila roundabout, where several injuries were reported. On Thursday, at least eight Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in Israeli air strikes and shelling across Gaza.
The joint statement said Israeli forces had further squeezed the Palestinian population into an even more crowded environment by arbitrarily moving the so‑called “Yellow Line,” a buffer established as part of last year’s ceasefire framework. Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel has killed at least 1,471 Palestinians and injured 5,189. Three years of Israeli attacks have killed at least 74,254 Palestinians, including at least 21,000 children, about one in every 30 people, or 3 percent of the pre‑war population. The Palestinian Ministry of Health counts only deaths recorded at hospitals or officially registered; the true toll is likely higher.
Agnes Callamard, secretary‑general of Amnesty International, said in the statement, “Accountability cannot be buried under the rubble. 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.”