The one-year anniversary of the Gaza ceasefire, observed on October 10, has been marred by continued violence, with more than 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations declaring the truce exists “in name only.” According to Islamic Relief, Israeli forces have killed or wounded a Palestinian in the territory on average every 90 minutes since the agreement took effect.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 1,493 people have been killed and 5,299 wounded since the truce began, bringing the cumulative death toll since October 2023 to 74,382. Fatalities over the past week included four individuals killed in a drone strike near Panda Mall in western Gaza City, eight-year-old Shahd al-Najjar, who died from Israeli fire while inside a tent, and seven-year-old Jihad al-Ghandour, who succumbed to injuries from a shooting near Jabalia camp.
The Israeli military claimed several of those killed were fighters, identifying two men near the Jordanian Field Hospital as Islamic Jihad operatives and alleging a civil defense worker near Kamal Adwan Hospital was a Hamas sniper. Hamas denied the latter claim, noting it has not been independently verified.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure continues to deteriorate. The Ministry of Health stated that 44 percent of essential medicines are out of stock, and a report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel found that none of the territory’s 36 hospitals are operating at full capacity. A joint statement from NGOs indicated that more than 18,500 patients require medical evacuation, with over 1,000 having died while waiting for permits. No patients were permitted to leave through the Rafah crossing in the past week.
Displacement has also increased as Israeli forces pushed the “Yellow Line,” their boundary of control, further into residential areas of Gaza City. Furthermore, the Board of Peace, Gaza’s transitional oversight body, has failed to meet key commitments, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and the entry of aid trucks at the agreed-upon rate. Israel currently controls nearly two-thirds of the Strip, exceeding the previously agreed limit.
In the occupied West Bank, the olive harvest season has been marked by coordinated attacks from settlers and soldiers. On October 7, Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, was shot dead during an attack on olive pickers between Burqa and Ramin, northwest of Nablus. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that ambulance crews were assaulted and three paramedics detained while attempting to reach the wounded.
Data from the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission recorded dozens of settler attacks in a single week, with approximately 50,000 trees destroyed so far this year. Incidents included settlers in Qusra bulldozing over 50 trees after stealing olives, and in Birin, where settlers from the Adorim outpost set a dog on a 79-year-old woman. In al-Mughayyir, soldiers accompanied settlers into residential streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas.
Israeli rights group Yesh Din documented 109 harvest-related incidents across 75 communities between September 27 and October 6. Reports indicate that settlers often frame these attacks through a messianic lens, characterizing Palestinian farmers as attempting to “seize” land rather than harvest crops their families have tended for generations.
On the political front, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas postponed legislative elections to September, citing Israeli restrictions on materials and observers entering Gaza and East Jerusalem, as well as ongoing settler violence. Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative criticized the move, arguing it highlights the concentration of power in the executive branch without parliamentary checks.
In Israel, with parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27, Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen indicated his alliance of Palestinian citizens of Israel is prepared to support a coalition against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from outside the government, potentially in exchange for commitments regarding a pathway to Palestinian statehood. Additionally, Israeli authorities began demolishing homes in the unrecognised Bedouin village of al-Dahiya in the Naqab, despite a court rejection of a freeze request. In diplomatic developments, the UK’s consulate in East Jerusalem formally downgraded to a reduced mission following Israel’s deadline for its closure.
Are international permits truly the only barrier? With so much aid blocked, I wonder if political will exists to simply allow supplies in.
It is horrifying to hear about the attacks on olive harvesters. Farming for generations shouldn’t be a capital offense, yet it is.
A ‘ceasefire’ that leaves over a hundred dead in a year is a misnomer. The scale of violence contradicts the agreement entirely.